New Delhi, December 7
The Union Cabinet tonight decided that the creamy layer in other backward castes (OBC) would not be excluded from the benefits of 27 per cent reservation in Central educational Institutions and a Bill to this effect would be introduced in the current session of Parliament.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, briefing newspersons after the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said the Cabinet rejected the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee to exclude the creamy layer from the purview of the OBC reservation in government-aided institutions of higher learning.
“After considering all aspects, it was decided to stick to the original Bill with the basic framework of 27 per cent reservation for OBCs,” he said.
The Bill seeks to increase seats while introducing quotas in institutes like the prestigious IITs and IIMs as well as the universities
The Central Educational institutions (Reservation in Admission) Bill, 2006 would be introduced during the current session with some minor changes. The Bill was introduced on the last day of monsoon session on August 25 and was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resources Development, which gave its report on December 1.
The Standing Committee had recommended that the “first instance reservation should be given to the non-creamy layer of OBC candidates.” After admitting such non-creamy layer candidates, if OBC vacancies remain unfilled, these may be filled up from the creamy layer in order of merit, it said.
The standing committee backed the Moily panel’s suggestion that allowing the creamy layer the benefit of quota would work against the interests of the poorer sections of the OBCs and, thereby, defeat the underlying purpose of making higher education
inclusive and equity-based.
The Supreme Court granted six weeks to the government to place before it the report of the standing committee of Parliament, which examined the scope of providing 27 per cent reservations to OBCs in institutions of higher education.
The Cabinet gave its approval to the amendment notice to be moved in Parliament in the ‘Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2006, reported by the Joint Committee of Parliament. Thereafter, action would be taken to move the amendment notice in Parliament.
The enactment of the Bill with amendments would undo the historical injustice by recognising and vesting the forest rights in the forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes, who had been residing there for generations and who are integral to the very survival and sustainability of the forest eco-systems, but whose rights could not be recorded.
Noting that there was a controversy whether there should be two Bills one for tribals and another for forest dwellers, he said the Cabinet decided that there would be only one Bill clubbing both with 2005 as cut-off year.
The Cabinet okayed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between India and the USA for the development of Aviation Cooperation Programme (ACP).
The ACP was aimed at promoting increased safety, operational efficiency and system capacity in the Indian Aviation sector, facilitate and coordinate aviation industry training and technical ties between the USA and India and strengthen over all aviation cooperation between the two countries, Mr Dasmunsi said.
He said the Cabinet today gave its approval for the enactment of a legislation on the Micro Financial Sector (Development and Regulation) subject to amendments of a consequential nature, if any, in consultation with the Legislative Department.
The Micro Financial Sector (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2006 will provide the full support / oversight to the micro Finance Sector.
The Cabinet also gave its approval for the introduction of the Limited Liability Partnership Bill, 2006 in the Parliament. The Bill would facilitate creation of another business model, which would enable growth of the economy. The Bill will be introduced in the current session of Parliament.
The Cabinet approved introduction of separate bills for setting up Sikkim University, Tripura University and Rajiv Gandhi University, Mr Dasmunsi said.
Another legislation which got Cabinet’s nod was Administrative Tribunals (Second Amendment) Bill 2006, which seeks to attract more suitable persons from the administrative and judicial streams to the tribunals.
Its objective is to bring about improvement in the quality of justice delivery in the matter of administrative disputes, he said.
