Nagamohan Das panel to rely on 2011 census for data

Bengaluru: The government has asked Justice Nagamohan Das Commission to depend on the 2011 Census and any other available information to put together empirical data to recommend internal reservation among Scheduled Castes.

The one-man commission was formed based on a Cabinet decision to obtain empirical data to provide internal reservation after the Supreme Court ruled on August 1 that the states could frame laws to provide internal reservation for SCs.

In its terms of reference, the government has asked the commission to collect empirical data to determine inter-se backwardness using its discretion and find effective means to implement internal reservation.

The recommendations include obtaining empirical data on the population of sub-castes coming under the Adi Dravida, Adi Karnataka and Adi Andhra categories.

The commission will need to study whether different SC sub-groups are equally availing the reservation benefits and provide specific recommendations on the steps that can be taken in this regard. 

The commission has been recommended to collect available empirical data, if need be, on internal backwardness amongst SCs.

Decades-long issue

Internal reservation has been a decades-long demand of the SC (left) section, who argue that their community has been historically deprived of reservation benefits.

The A J Sadashiva Commission was formed in 2005 by the then Congress-JD(S) government to study the issue. The commission submitted its report in 2012, recommending internal reservation for SC/STs. 

The Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government rejected the Sadashiva Commission report and increased the reservation for SCs from 15% to 17% and for STs from 3 per cent to 7 per cent.

Questions had then been raised on whether this change would stand judicial scrutiny, as the reservation cannot cross 50 per cent as per the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Indra Sawhney case.