New Delhi, Aug 11 (UNI) Rajya Sabha on Wednesday cleared a bill seeking to restore the rights of states to prepare their own list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) for providing reservation in jobs and extending other benefits.
Unlike other days when Opposition parties continued their protests and stalled proceedings, they all came together to support the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Bill, 2021 and passed the measure.
Moving the bill in the Upper House, a day after it was passed by Lok Sabha unanimously, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Virendra Kumar Singh said the bill will reinstate the powers of states to have their own list of OBCs and undo the Supreme Court order on it.
The bill was warranted following a Supreme Court order in May, saying that only the central government can prepare the OBC list. The ruling came in a case involving Maratha quota citing a law passed by Parliament in 2018 to give constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC).
As per the statement of objects and reasons of the bill, it seeks to adequately clarify that the state governments and Union territories are empowered to prepare and maintain their own state list/ Union territory list of socially and educationally backward classes (commonly known as the Other Backward Classes).
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