Holding that politically organised communities like the Jats cannot be included in the Central list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the government to recognise emerging socially and educationally backward groups like transgenders, who are among the most distressed.
Hours after the court’s judgment, 27 Jat MPs, cutting across party lines, led by Union Rural Development Minister Chaudhury Birender Singh, met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with the plea that the government challenge the order in a review petition, or the community itself might have to take on that task.
Given that the judgment will affect the politically significant Jats in Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, and Bharatpur and Dholpur districts of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the Modi government will have to consider the plea of these MPs very carefully.
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The apex court struck down the quota notification issued by the UPA government.