The applicants opposing the 27 per cent reservation for OBC communities on Thursday submitted before the Supreme Court that economic condition rather than caste should be the criteria for reserving seats in the elite educational institutes such as IITs, AIIMS, IIMs.

Arguing for more than four hours before a constitutional bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justices Arijit Pasayat, A K Mathur, R V Raveendran, and Dalveer Bhandari, Senior Counsel Harish Salve said caste system in the country is a “historical problem” and the state should take steps for the social, economic and educational development of the backward communities.

Reservation for the Other Backward Communities (OBCs) is not justified in the country.

Duty of the state
The duty of the state was to maintain communal harmony and reservation for the OBC communities would lead to communal discord, he submitted while pressing for court’s direction for quashing the 93rd amendment and implementation of the provision of Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act 2006. The court has been hearing the issues in the main petition on the constitutional validity of the 93rd amendment, the provision of Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act 2006 providing 27 per cent reservation for OBCsand Union Government’s power in implementing such policy without any basis.

The court would also decide on 30 questions submitted before a two-judge bench in May such as whether reservation should be only for the people from creamy layer or caste be the only criteria for reservation or its applicability in private educational institutes.