Quota row rocks Parliament; Centre says high-level discussion over SC verdict on

A raging row over Supreme Court's order on the reservation in promotions in government jobs hit both Houses of Parliament with a united opposition targeting BJP on the issue and questioning its commitment to the cause of the oppressed classes.

As opposition members led vociferous protests in Parliament, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawarchand Gehlot took the plea that the Centre was neither a party to the case in which the apex court had passed its order nor was it asked to submit an affidavit in the matter.

Cutting across party lines, opposition members, including Ghulam Nabi Azad and P L Punia (both Congress), Tiruchi Siva(DMK) and Ram Gopal Yadav (SP), asked the Modi government to take firm steps on the issue and wanted it to file a review petition in the Supreme Court to reverse the verdict.

In a matter related to the Uttarakhand government, the Supreme Court on Friday had held that state government were not bound to provide reservation in appointments and that there was no fundamental right to claim quota in promotions.

NDA constituents Lok Janshakti Party and JD(U) also joined the opposition and demanded that the government take steps to put the topic of reservation in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, making it off-limits for litigation in the apex Court.

“The government is holding high-level discussions on the issue,” Gehlot told both Houses of Parliament.

Seeking to turn the heat on Congress, Gehlot also made it clear that the apex Court verdict had come on an order issued by the Uttarakhand government in 2012, when Congress was in power.

Gehlot's statement in the House triggered an uproar from the opposition which accused the government of politicising the issue and staged a walk out in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

It was trouble from the word go in the Lok Sabha with Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Trinamool member Kalyan Banerjee accusing the Modi government for launching an onslaught on the reservation policy since coming to power in 2014.

The Opposition members shouted slogans and even staged a walkout over Gehlot’s statement in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh accused the opposition Congress of politicising a sensitive issue had urged members to await a statement from the government on the issue.