New Delhi: The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday announced that it will pass an ordinance for reservation for minorities in the state.
The ordinance will come into effect from September 15, the 99th birth anniversary of DMK founder and former Tamil Nadu chief minister C N Annadurai.
The ordinance provides for exclusive reservation of 3.5 per cent each for Muslims and Christians in educational institutions and employment, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said in a statement.
This reservation is carved from the 30 per cent reservation in vogue for Backward Classes in the state, the statement said.
Earlier in April, participating in a debate on the demands of grants for the minorities department, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had told the state assembly that the government had accepted the recommendations of the state's Backward Classes Commission headed by Justice M Janardanam, a retired judge of the Madras High Court.
The reservation quota in the state include 30 per cent for backward classes (BCs), 20 percent for most backward classes (MBCs) and denotified tribes (DNTs), 18 per cent for scheduled castes (SCs), and 1 per cent for scheduled tribes (STs). The overall reservation is thus 69 per cent, benefiting as much as 87 per cent of the state's population.
"The government would take legal steps to implement the exclusive reservation for minorities (Muslim and Christian BCs and OBCs), once the Supreme Court pronounces its verdict on the 69 per cent reservation case," Karunanidhi had said.
The decision came after a January judgment of the Supreme Court, which ordered constitution of a three-judge bench to study if state reservation laws can be included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.
The Tamil Nadu Reservation Act passed by the assembly was included in the 9th Schedule (under Article 31B of the constitution) in August 1994.
Courting quota in TN
From 1951 onwards, BCs in Tamil Nadu have enjoyed 25 per cent reservation. In 1969 the first Tamil Nadu State Backward Classes Commission, headed by AN Sattanathan, recommended a separate 16 per cent reservation for the MBCs and 17 per cent for the BCs.
In 1971, the DMK government hiked the BC quota from 25 per cent to 31 per cent and the SC and ST quota to 18 per cent.
The Chief Minister pointed out that the DMK government in 1973-74 included Urdu-speaking Labbies and Tekkani Muslims in the list of the BCs.
In 1980, the MG Ramachandran government increased the BC quota from 31 per cent to 50 per cent, and a few years later the DMK government took the total quota to 69 per cent.
Ever since, the state's higher educational institutions have 69 per cent seats reserved for BCs and other backward classes (OBCs).
The second Tamil Nadu State Backward Classes Commission came into existence on March 15, 1993, headed by JA Ambashankar.
Karunanidhi said Justice M Janardanam, a retired judge of the Madras High Court, had been asked to review the Ambashankar panel report on BCs and OBCs and "had stated that the report of the Second Commission could be the basis for the exclusive reservation for Christians and Muslims".
The Ambashankar Commission, he said, had studied the population pattern of the of backward class people among the Hindus, Christians and Muslims in Tamil Nadu.
In April, Karunanidhi had said that full details on the exclusive reservation will be announced after consultations with friendly parties. It was a DMK poll promise, he had said.
(With inputs from IANS)
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