Hardik Patel’s Quota Deal: Congress, BJP Engage in War of Words Over Reservation; Legal Experts Question its Implementation - JPKee.com

Ahmedabad, November 22: Patidar quota stir leader Hardik Patel on Wednesday declared his support to the Congress in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly election stating that the party has accepted their deal of giving reservation to his community in a “special category”. Following the declaration, a number of legal experts said that the promise made by the Congress to Hardik Patel in poll-bound Gujarat may not pass judicial muster due to the 50 per cent cap.

This has also led to a war of words between the BJP and Congress. While BJP, on one side, dubbed the deal as a “big joke” and “mutual deception”, the Congress accused the ruling party of fooling people every day.

Hardik Patel said that reservation formula given by the Congress for his community will be over and above the 50 per cent quota for the SC, ST and OBCs.

For last three-years, the quota politics in Gujarat has become one of the biggest issues and has come the fore ahead of next month’s assembly polls. According to PTI, experts suggest that the promised reservation by the Congress, if it comes to power, can survive if the Supreme Court was to reconsider its 1992 landmark judgement fixing the ceiling.

The Apex Court in its verdict in the Mandal Commission case had ruled that the total reservation for SC/ST and other backward classes or special categories should not exceed 50 per cent.

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Senior Supreme Court counsellor and Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the party will take steps on the promised quota within the “Constitutional framework”.

The Patidar leader, on his part, said that the 50 per cent reservation cap set by the apex court, was just a “suggestion”. He also claimed that the reservation formula promised by the Congress for his community will be over and above 50 per cent quota for the ST, SC and OBCs.

The 24-year-old Patidar leader said if the Congress comes to power, it will conduct a proper survey for providing reservation. The party will introduce a Bill in the state assembly and will pass a resolution to give reservation, he said.

“That 1992 judgment was not just a suggestion, it was a law laid down by the SC. We cannot cross that limit. Even if the survey about the backwardness of any community is conducted, the eligible community has to be included in the existing 50 per cent quota. There is no scope of additional quota,” senior Gujarat High Court lawyer Girish Patel told PTI.

Krishnakant Vakharia, another senior advocate says that reservation can go beyond 50 per cent only if Parliament amends the Constitution, or someone files an appeal in the Supreme Court against the 1992 judgment.

“We all abide by the interpretation of the Constitution done by the SC. In the the historical 1992 judgment, the SC interpreted the Constitution and said that 50 per cent cap is necessary to protect the principle of Right to Equality,” Vakharia said, adding, “If that limit is not there, that principle becomes meaningless.” Vakharia said there are two possible ways to increase the cap.

“Either the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha amend the Constitution with a two-third majority under Article 368, or someone files a petition urging the SC to reverse the 1992 judgment by claiming that social fabric has changed a lot since the judgment was delivered 25 years ago,” he added.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who is campaigning in Gujarat for BJP said the “Congress-Hardik club” is one of the mutual deceptions.

“The law of the land is very clear and that is laid down by the Apex Court and only last week in the Rajasthan case it has been reaffirmed that the 50 per cent cap cannot be increased. So let them continue to deceive each other and deceive the public by saying that they will devise a methodology to breach the gap. Legally and constitutionally that is not possible as the law stands today,” Jaitley told reporters.

Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel attacked Congress and Hardik Patel and said the formula of reservation above the cap set by India’s top court was something “offered by fools and also accepted by fools.”

“Though it is very much clear that reservation quota cannot go beyond 50 per cent in any situation, Hardik is trying to misguide the Patidar community with the formula offered by the Congress. In my opinion, this formula of reservation is a big joke,” Patel told reporters in Ahmedabad.

Nitin Patel claimed that Congress leaders like Kapil Sibal have made a fool out of Hardik by offering such formula.

(With input from agencies)

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Author - Vikash Kumar