Congress Seeks Gujarat Guv's Intervention On OBC Panel Report, Accused BJP Of Sitting On It

The Congress in Gujarat urged the Governor to pass the KS Jhaveri Commission report on reservation for OBCs in local body elections.

Congress on Tuesday sought Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat's intervention while alleging that the BJP-led Gujarat government is sitting on a panel report which looks into the nature and implications of backwardness in local bodies, an exercise that is necessary to fix the OBC quota in the Panchayat polls. The party claimed that the elections to various local bodies couldn't be held despite the expiration of their five-year term as the KS Jhaveri commission report was never made public, reported news agency PTI.

A delegation led by Congress leaders Amit Chavda, and Arjun Modhwadia called on Devvrat at the Raj Bhavan in Gujarat's Gandhinagar. The delegation gave him a memorandum while seeking his intervention to make the report public and issue necessary instructions about the declaration of elections based on recommended OBC reservation.

The party said, "Though the commission's tenure ended on March 12, the government is not releasing the report as a conspiracy to finish the political existence of OBCs (Other Backward Classes) who form 52 per cent of the population in Gujarat."

The commission headed by Justice KS Jhaveri (retd) of the Gujarat High Court was constituted last year in July in order to collect and analyse the data on the nature as well as the implications of backwardness in local bodies.

The Supreme Court of India directed that the seats which will be reserved for the OBC candidates in each local body will be decided based on the recommendation that the Jhaveri commission will provide after conducting a detailed study.

Chavda while talking to reporters after meeting the governor said earlier 10 per cent of seats in each local body were reserved for OBC candidates. "However, as part of a conspiracy, attempts were made to end the political existence of OBCs. After protests by Congress, the BJP government in the state formed the Jhaveri Commission last year. After two extensions granted to it by the government, the panel's tenure ended in March. But, its report has not been made public yet. Who is behind this conspiracy to end the political representation of OBCs?" PTI quoted him as saying.

He further said, "As per rules, elections can be held only after the report is released. Thus, we demand this report be made public, OBCs get a reservation as per recommendations and elections to local bodies are announced at the earliest. We urged the governor to intervene in this issue and give necessary instructions to the government."

Congress MLAs last month walked out of an Assembly session as the government refused to give a definitive assurance on the release of the commission's report.