Vanniyar reservation bill gets TN Guv's nod after Assembly passing it

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit has granted his approval to the 10.5% Vanniyar Reservation Bill on Friday . As per the gazetted notification, the Governor gave his assent just hours after the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed the Vanniyar’s Reservation Bill on Friday, a little before Election Commission’s poll announcement. Notably, this was among AIADMK’s ally Pattali Makkal Katchi’s key demands to the government.

This Reservation will enable 10.5% internal reservation to Vanniyars within the 20% reservation of the Most Backward Classes (MBC) and Denotified Communities (DNC). PMK, AIADMK’s ally in the upcoming assembly elections was granted 23 seats in the upcoming elections on Saturday.

The Vanniyar caste, that falls under Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities, has organised protests and made representations in the past seeking separate reservation for admission to educational institutions and in appointments or posts in the services under the State.

According to the Bill, “The Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission examined the demand made by various communities to provide for internal reservation within Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities for various categories and recommended to the Government that internal reservation may be given for three categories, namely, Most Backward Classes (V) - 10.5%, Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities - 7% and Most Backward Classes - 2.5%.”

The gazetted notification dated February 26 states that “A large percentage of population in Tamil Nadu who were suffering from social and educational backwardness for many years have started enjoying the benefits of the reservation policy and have been able to improve their lot and attain a higher standard of living”.

In the recent past, Tamil Nadu governor Banwarilal Purohit had sought time to decide upon the 7.5% horizontal reservation in undergraduate medical courses for NEET-qualified state government school students following which opposition parties staged protests. His indefinite delay prompted the Tamil Nadu government to pass an order under the executive directions under Article 162 of the Constitution of India in October last year.