Supreme Court nullifies inclusion of Jats in OBC category
"We set aside the notification to implement Jats in the Central list of Other Backward Classes (OBC)," the court said.
"Caste, though a prominent factor, can't be the sole factor to decide backwardness... Backwardness has to be social backwardness and not educational or economic backwardness," it said in response to a number of petitions challenging the previous UPA government's decision to include Jats in the central OBC list.
The petitions were filed by several organisations, including OBC Reservation Raksha Samiti.
The Supreme court questioned why the government ignored the findings of a panel advising against quota for jats.
It observed that inclusion of a politically-organised class like Jat would have adverse impact on the welfare of other backward classes.
The petitioners had argued that the quota was against the recommendation of the National Commission for Backward Classes, which had opposed such a measure for Jats since the community can not be classified as "backward".
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