BC panel gets another year to submit report on MBCs
The decision comes amid demands for exclusive Vanniyar reservation and Union govt's decision to include caste enumeration in the upcoming national census.
The extension, the fifth granted by the state govt since January 2023. "The chairman of the backward classes commission stated that in the absence of quantifiable data of all the communities included in the most backward classes and denotified communities, the commission may not be in a position to complete the additional terms of reference and submit the report to the govt on or before July 11," a govt order said.
The state govt mandated the commission to submit the report in the light of the Supreme Court's observations in the 2022 judgment on vanniyar quota.
PMK has been mounting pressure on the state govt for a caste survey, asserting that vanniyars constitute 18% of the state's population and hence they deserve an exclusive quota. Former Union minister Anbumani Ramadoss recently protested in Villupuram, alleging that the govt mishandled the Vanniyar quota case and the apex court rejected the 10.5% quota previously announced by the AIADMK regime.
"If the quota continued, we would have secured 3,800 UG seats in medicine, 6,000 seats in engineering, 6,000 jobs in govt, and 80,000 seats in arts and science colleges," Anbumani said.
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The commission has gathered data from the state govt on MBC and DNC candidates, which includes recruitment and admission in professional, arts, and science colleges over the past decade. It needs population and socio-economic conditions to submit the report.
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