RAIPUR: “We have sent a reply to the Governor even though such an arrangement is not there in the Constitution. “We hope that now she would give her assent to the bills, said Baghel on Sunday informing that they have answered the queries by Governor Anusiya over the two amendment bills increasing the overall reservation in the state to 76%.
“We have responded to the queries of the Governor, though there is no such procedure (to reply) laid down in the Constitution. She insisted that until she received the responses to her questions, she would not sign the bill. We think the assent should come now,” said Baghel interacting with the media reporters. According to officials in the know, the Governor’s decision would come after she was convinced by the justifications given by the state government.
The special session of the state Assembly on December 3 unanimously passed and adopted by voice vote the Chhattisgarh Public Service (ST-SC-OBC Reservation) Amendment Bill taking the quota in the state to 76% with the tribal share being raised to 32%. The proposal if accepted Scheduled Caste will have 13%, Other Backward Classes (OBCs) at 27%, and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) will get 4% reservations. In September, the High Court set aside the state government’s 2012 order to raise the quota to 58% in government jobs and admissions in educational institutions. The court had said reservation exceeding the 50% ceiling was unconstitutional.
Here is the list of questions the Governor asked
- Was the opinion of the law department taken before bringing forth the reservation amendment bill?
- Under what conditions are the reservation over 50% binding?
- The report of the quantifiable data commission (on SC-ST) should be produced. Did the government aggregate the data while preparing the bills?
- What was the situation that led to increasing the quota limit beyond 50%?
- Was there a separate provision in the law brought for the EWS reservation?
- Was any committee constituted before raising the reservation ceiling?
- Why are the ST-SC candidates not being selected for state government jobs for the sanctioned posts?
- How do the STs/SCs lag behind socially, economically and educationally?
- Any report to ensure that the efficiency of the state administration would be maintained with the reservations?
- The high court in September this year quashed 58% reservation as “unconstitutional,” how will the bill with a higher quota be defended?