RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Monday tweeted that he welcomes the Supreme Court decision to stay a high court decision declaring the state's 58% reservation as 'unconstitutional'.
Baghel, however, said that "justice will be served" only when the Governor grants his assent to the new 76% reservation bills.
"We all welcome the decision of the Supreme Court to stay the decision of the high court on 58% reservation. But our struggle against the conspiracy of BJP against the youth of Chhattisgarh will continue. If the Governor signs the new bill, only then right justice will have been given. We will fight and we will win," the CM tweeted.
He was referring to the bills passed by the Chhattisgarh assembly on December 2, 2002, hiking ST quota to 32%, SC to 13% and OBC quota to 27%, and allocating 4% reservation for EWS. These bills are awaiting the Governor's consent.
BJP vice-president Raman Singh, during whose tenure as chief minister the state increased the overall reservation to 58%, said on Monday, "The BJP government had already implemented it with great seriousness, and today the Supreme Court has given its approval and opened the way for recruitment. The youth now know the truth."
Developments come as quota bills await Governor's assent The 2012 order provided for 32% reservation for ST, 12% for SC, and 14% for OBCs. In September 2022, the Chhattisgarh HC quashed this order to provide 58% quota, holding that any reservation above 50% is unconstitutional.
This took the ST quota back to 20%, triggering widespread protests by tribals in the state. Congress moved SC against the HC order.
Meanwhile, the ruling Congress took a stand that reservation must be in proportion to population. It convened a special session of the Vidhan Sabha on December 2 last year and passed bills to enhance overall reservation to 76% - 32% for STs, 13% for SCs, 27% for OBCs and 4% for EWS.
However, these bills are yet to get the Governor's consent. The previous Governor, Anusuiya Uikey, asked a volley of questions of the government on various aspects of the reservation bills, leading to a bitter confrontation with the Baghel government which maintained that constitutionally the Governor has no right to ask such questions. Uikey, however, maintained that it was necessary to examine whether these bills would withstand judicial scrutiny once the Governor grants assent.
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