The Narendra Modi government justified in the Supreme Court on Thursday inclusion of Jats on the Other Backward Class (OBC) list, a decision taken by the previous United Progressive Alliance government on the eve of the Lok Sabha election.
The UPA government issued the notification for the inclusion on March 4, a day before the model code of conduct came into force. The BJP then termed it a “pre-election stunt.”
On Thursday, Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi told a Bench comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Rohinton Nariman that the present government had accepted the decision as it was done in public interest.
The notification amended the OBC list with respect to Gujarat, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan (Bharatpur and Dhaulpur districts), Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and the National Capital Territory. The National Commission for Backward Classes, in an advice to the government in February, however, rejected the inclusion of Jats.
Mr. Rohatgi justified the UPA government’s stand, and said the present government was of the view that the commission had not adequately taken into account the ground realities. He said “the advice of the commission was ordinarily binding,” but the government could depart from it if there were reasons for doing so.
