New Delhi: The Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict on the Constitutional validity of the controversial law to provide 27 per cent quota to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in central educational institutions on Thursday.
A five-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan on November 1 last had reserved its verdict after a hearing that lasted 25 days on petitions challenging the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006.
The apex court in its March 29, 2007 interim order had stayed the implementation of the Act holding that data based on 1931 census cannot be the determinative factor for the affirmative action.
Anti-quota activists opposed the Government's move vehemently saying caste was not the starting point of identifying backward classes.
It was alleged that the Government was in dilemma and has adopted caste as the basis of identifying the backward classes for political reasons.
The inclusion of 'creamy layer' in the reservation policy was also questioned by those opposing the law. The Centre and the pro-quota petitioner had justified the 27 per cent reservation.
Besides Chief Justice, other members on the bench included, Justices Arijit Pasayat, C K Thakker, R V Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari.
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