President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday appointed a five-member panel headed by Delhi High Court’s former Chief Justice G Rohini to examine the sub categorisation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) under Article 340 of the Constitution, an official statement said.
The decision to appoint the panel to ensure a “more equitable distribution” of quota benefits to OBCs was cleared by the Union cabinet in August.
“This decision, taken on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, reinforces, in the spirit of his teachings, the government's efforts to achieve greater social justice and inclusion for all, and specifically members of the Other Backward Classes,” Times of India quoted the official statement as saying.
The five-member panel includes Dr J K Bajaj of the Centre for Policy Studies as a member, director of the Anthropological Survey of India and Registrar General and Census Commissioner as ex-officio members; and a joint secretary in the ministry of social justice and empowerment as secretary of the Commission.
According to the official statement, the panel will examine the extent of unequal distribution of benefits of reservation among the castes or communities included in the OBC category.
It will also work out the mechanism, criteria, norms and parameters in a scientific approach for the sub-categorisation within such classes and will take up the exercise of identifying the respective castes or communities or sub-castes or synonyms in the Central List of OBC and classifying them into their respective sub-categories, the statement said.
The Commission has been asked to submit its report to the President within a period of twelve weeks of assumption of charge by the chairperson.
Based on the report, the Central government will work out ways and means for uniform distribution of the benefits of the reservation in Central government jobs and admission and Central government institutions.
