Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is now facing a situation which his father Biju Patnaik, as the then Chief Minister, handled unsuccessfully in the 1990s.
Just before going to polls in 1995, senior Patnaik, through a Resolution, enhanced the ratio of reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) in jobs from 11.25 per cent to 27 per cent. And his Janata Dal lost the elections. His move to raise the quota was considered as one
of the factors for the electoral defeat.
A similar situation is now created Naveen Patnaik is going to polls in 2014. The Odisha Administrative Tribunal (OAT) has quashed The Odisha Reservation of Posts and Services (for SEBC) Act, 2008, a populist caste-based reservation Act which provided 27 per cent quota for SEBC in
employment.
The tribunal’s order has put the State Government in a fix. The Government can neither take time nor can it avoid the situation. It has to act
either way.
The caste discrimination is not that deep-rooted in Odisha. Education is no longer captive to the upper castes of Brahmins and Kayasthas; Dalits, tribals and SEBC members have
also come up.
Since their population is 27 per cent in Odisha, the Biju Patnaik Government implemented 27 per cent reservation for the SEBC. And the ratio of quota increased from 38.75 (ST 22.25 + SC 16.50) to 65.75 per cent.
After the Union Government headed by VP Singh implemented the recommendations of the Mandal Commission in providing 27 per cent reservation to the backward classes in addition to the reservation for SC & ST, the Odisha Government was compelled to make provision for this new category though a Resolution on September 10, 1993.
Hara Priya Dash, a job seeker, being aggrieved with such enhancement of reservation, approached the OAT praying for quash of 27 per cent reservation for the SEBC.
The OAT decided that caste-based reservation cannot exceed 50 per cent and further held that the Resolution of 1993 is contrary to the Principles of law laid down by the Supreme Court on the ground that by no stretch of imagination can Odisha be treated as a far-flung and remote area and the people of this State out of national mainstream.
This OAT judgement was upheld by the Odisha High Court, following which the State Government took the issue to the Supreme Court by preferring a Special leave Petition (SlP). The apex court also did not grant any relief to the State Government, which was bound to reduce the reservation for SEBC from 27 per cent to 11.25 per cent.
The ST&SC Development Department issued instructions on March 15 2007 to follow post-specific roster and ensure that the extent of reservation cannot exceed the ceiling of 50 per cent.
While this arrangement was followed in the State, it was before the 2009 elections that a Bill was passed in the State Assembly to enhance the reservation for SEBC to 27 per cent again. The Governor assented the Bill on February 3, 2009 and it was published in the State Gazette on February 7, 2009 as The Odisha Reservation of
Posts and Services (for SEBC) Act, 2008.
After implementation of the Act, a proposal was sent to the Union Government for its inclusion in the 9th Schedule by way of an amendment to the Constitution.
Service law expert Prahlad Kumar Sinha, on behalf of a petitioner, brought to light the lacunae in implementing the Act. And an OAT Bench comprising Justice N Prusty and Dr SN Dash quashed the 2008 SEBC Act with observation that this is not sustainable in the eyes of law and further directed the Government to modify the impugned advertisement to the extent that the reservation of posts shall not exceed 50 per cent.
While the 2014 General Elections are drawing near, political and bureaucratic leaderships are engaged in serious deliberations over this crucial issue.