PMK founder S. Ramadoss on Friday wrote to Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, demanding that the law reinstating the 10.5% internal quota for the Vanniyars be passed before the admission to higher education courses started in July.
In his letter, Dr. Ramadoss said the Supreme Court had not raised any question about the census data and said the data on the social and educational backwardness of the Vanniyars could be collated and a law could be passed.
“The Tamil Nadu government has all the data and it can provide the internal reservation by seeking a report from the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission. The Supreme Court has said the State government can pass a law and there is no obstacle before it. In the 68th paragraph of the verdict, the Supreme Court says, ‘We make it clear that the aforesaid observations do not prevent the State, if it so decides, from undertaking suitable exercises for collecting pertinent, contemporaneous data to determine how demands for internal reservation within the Backward Classes can be justly addressed.”
Dr. Ramadoss said the districts that have fallen behind in education, employment and human development index are those where the Vanniyars are living in substantial numbers.
He added that the Supreme Court’s recent verdict, despite quashing the law on 10.5% internal reservation for the Vanniyars, is a victory for social justice. “The verdict says the State government has the right to provide internal reservation, there is no restriction on the State government providing internal reservation by dividing castes within the MBCs, reservation can be provided for one caste/community, there is no need to get presidential assent, there is no need to amend the 69% reservation in place in Tamil Nadu, which is protected under the Ninth Schedule, and providing reservation to the Vanniyars is not against the tenets of the Constitution,” he wrote.
Dr. Ramadoss appreciated the State government for recruiting senior advocates and placing the right arguments before the Supreme Court.
