SC quota ruling: Told you so, says livid oppn, wants law tweaked again

NEW DELHI: Slamming Modi government for ignoring their warnings, opposition MPs and OBC leaders have demanded that the Centre amend the 102nd constitutional amendment Act to restore the exclusive powers of states to identify backward castes.
The opposition MPs are livid in the wake of the Supreme Court's Wednesday judgment that interpreted the amendment which granted the National Commission for Backward Classes the constitutional status but altered the system of identifying OBCs.
"We repeatedly warned the government that the wording of the bill will jeopardise the states's power to classify backward castes. It clearly gave primacy to NCBC. But social justice minister Thaawarchand Gehlot said our fears were misplaced. Now, the SC judgment should be appealed against and the 102nd amendment amended again," said BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab in the Lok Sabha.
Then Congress MP and an OBC leader B K Hari Prasad said the opposition's fears have come true. "The Act should be amended as per demands that opposition MPs had made in the Parliament which were rubbished by the social justice minister," he said.
had on March 12 reported on the apprehensions of OBC leaders and opposition MPs when the SC decided to examine if the 102nd amendment took away the power from states to identify OBCs.