SC quashes Centre's decision to include Jats in OBC quota

New Delhi The Supreme Court today set aside the notification issued by the erstwhile UPA government to include Jats in the Central list of Other Backward Classes OBC for according benefits of reservation to themWe set aside the notification to implement Jats in the Central list of Other Backward Classes OBC a bench of Justice Tarun Gogoi and Justice R F Nariman said The bench also found fault with the Centres decision to overlook the findings of the National Commission for Backward Classes NCBC stating that Jats do not deserve to be included in the Central list of OBC as they dont form socioeconomic backward classSupreme Court of India File pic AFPCaste though a prominent factor cannot be the sole factor of determining the backwardness of a class the bench said while referring to the historic judgement rendered by a larger bench on the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations on OBC reservationsThe bench also said the possible wrong inclusion of a class in the past cannot be a basis for the further wrong inclusion It also said that the inclusion of politically organized class like Jat would adversely impact the welfare of the other backward classesThe bench said though the Union of India is empowered under the constitutional scheme to provide reservation to a particular class but it cannot be permitted to do so on the basis of a decadeoldfinding about the backwardness of a casteThe decision came on a PIL filed by the OBC Reservation Raksha Samiti an organisation of members of communities that are included in the Central List of Backward ClassesThe PIL had alleged that the March 4 notification was issued by the then central government a day before the Model Code of Conduct MCC for the Lok Sabha elections came into force to help the ruling party garner votesOn April 1 the apex court had asked the Centre why it allegedly ignored the advice of the NCBC to keep the Jat community away from reservation benefits The court had also said that the matter was serious and had directed the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to place before it all the material records and files pertaining to the decision to see whether there was application of mind or not while issuing the March 4 notificationThe current NDA government had in August last year supported before the apex court the UPA regimes decision to include the Jat community in the Central OBC list It had said that the Cabinet took into account the findings of the report of an expert committee constituted by the Indian Council for Social Science and Research ICSSR before taking the decisionIt had said that the government rejected the view of the National Commission for Backward Classes and took the decision on the basis of findings of the expert committee The affidavit was filed in compliance with apex courts order issuing notice to the Centre on the PILBesides the organisation three other individuals from Delhi Ram Singh Ashok Kumar and Ashok Yadav belonging to OBC category have also challenged the Centres notificationThey submitted that members of Jat community have performed much better than those of other castes They have sought a direction holding that Jat community is not a backward class and is not entitled to be included in the list of OBC and annexed findings of the NCBC which in its February 26 2014 report had rejected the Centres request for recommending inclusion of Jat community in the central list of backward classes