NEW DELHI: Maintaining that the Andhra Pradesh High Court order scrapping 4.5 per cent sub-quota for minorities was not a political setback, Law Minister Salman Khurshid on Tuesday said the Centre would immediately go to the Supreme Court by way of a Special Leave Petition (SLP) against the High Court’s decision.Khurshid said the government is firm on the sub quota for minorities under OBC and the government would like to address the matter with a sense of urgency.Referring to the High Court’s judgment, the Law Minister pointed out that the court has rightly stated that the community cannot be given reservation only on the basis of religion.He said, “The word minority in the Indian Constitution is not just religious but linguistic also. We haven’t made a reservation on religion alone. We have made it on proportion of backwards. The reservation for minorities was done on the basis of the Mandal Commission recommendations. We would soon go to the Supreme Court after its vacation by way of an SLP against the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s decision.” Khurshid hoped that the matter would be referred to a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court along with the earlier decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on the issue of minority reservation in the state. He said that this was not the first time that the High Court has struck down such an order. He pointed out that the High Court had struck down the Andhra Pradesh government’s order also. Holding that the Centre had acted in a “casual manner”, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had on Monday quashed the 4.5 per cent sub-quota to minorities carved out of 27 per cent OBC reservation — a verdict that may affect admissions already made in Central educational institutions such as IITs. In fact, in wake of the AP High Court striking down the sub-quota to minorities within OBC reservation, the IITs, which are in midst of the counselling process, have sought a direction from the government.
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