SHILLONG, Nov 9: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma played safe on the sensitive issue of quota following the Supreme Court’s observation that reservation should not continue for an indefinite period so as to become a “vested interest”.
He said the state government is maintaining a status quo on the issue. “The question of touching the reservation policy does not arise,” he added.
The apex court had recently observed that reservation should not continue for an indefinite while pointing out that the vision of the framers of the Constitution for such quotas to have a “time span” has not been achieved.
In a 3:2 majority decision, the top court upheld the 10% reservation for the economically weaker sections (EWS) in education and government jobs that excluded the poor among the SC, ST, and OBC categories.
Justices Bela M. Trivedi and J.B. Pardiwala, who wrote two separate and concurring views with Justice J.K. Maheswari in upholding the EWS quota, referred to the time span envisaged by the framers of the Constitution for reservation in the country.
There have been demands from several quarters in Meghalaya to review the existing reservation policy.
