Demanding a White Paper on the implementation of 27% reservation for OBCs in Central government jobs, DMK working president M.K. Stalin on Sunday said the BJP-led Centre should fully fill the vacancies in all departments as a special case.
Reacting to the report in The Hindu , “24 years on, OBC workforce in Centre still short of Mandal mark” Mr. Stalin said the 27% reservation was totally inadequate to the OBCs who constituted 52% of the country’s population. “The Centre should increase the reservation to 50% and protect the same through the approval of Parliament,” he said.
Recalling the efforts taken by DMK leader M. Karunanidhi for the implementation of Mandal Commission recommendations and their subsequent implementation by former Prime Minister V.P. Singh, Mr. Stalin said it was highly condemnable that the vacancies were not filled even after 24 years.
“Though the BJP government claims that it is representing the Backward Classes, in reality, it has betrayed these communities. It is a great injustice and against social justice that there is not a single representative from the OBC community among Group A officers in the Union Cabinet Secretariat, which is considered to be the brain of the central administration,” Mr. Stalin said.
In a separate statement, PMK leader S. Ramadoss said the “creamy layer” continued to be an impediment in implementing the reservation for the Backward Classes and filling backlog vacancies.
“Well-qualified and talented people are denied employment in the name of creamy layer, and reservation for the OBCs will remain an incomplete task so long as the concept of creamy layer is allowed,” he said.
Demanding a special scheme to remove the creamy layer and a recruitment drive to fill the vacancies and backlogs,” Dr. Ramadoss said it was condemnable that the government had failed to reveal the complete details of implementation of the 27% reservation.
He charged that the appointment of 60 candidates from the Open Competition category and four candidates from Scheduled Castes in 64 Group A posts in the Cabinet Secretariat could not have happened without a motive.
