CHANDIGARH: The Indian Supreme Court on Monday ordered that the matter of constitutional validity of the Mandal Commission report reserving 27 per cent posts in government and semi government undertakings for backward castes be taken up for hearing on October 25 instead of November 6 as earlier ordered and in the meantime the government was directed not to take any step to implement the report although identification of castes may continue.

The court also expected the proceedings to complete before the year end. Speaking on behalf of the five member bench, acting chief Justice Ranganath Mishra hoped that the law and order situation in the meantime would improve. He reiterated that legitimate interests of every backward class would be appropriately protected.

The ruling Janata Dal spokesman Jaipal Reddy said his party differed with the wisdom of the judges while the Congress (I) said the stay would give the government an opportunity to evolve consensus in the country. The All India Students Federation expressed fears that the Supreme Court order and the pressure mounted by the upper classes against the report could force the government to put Mandal Commission recommendations in the cold storage.

According to reports from various State capitals, the Supreme Court order sent shock waves among backward castes who felt their interests were being sabotaged through the court intervention because most Indian judges belonged to the upper castes.

Meanwhile, the Acting Chief Justice Ranganath Mishra was appointed regular Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from the day he accused charges, a Rashtrapati Bhavan release said. Mishra took over on the death of Mukharji on September 25.

With the court’s decision, the upper castes agitation is likely to come to an end. This agitation had engulfed the entire northern India in street demonstrations coming of public property and immolation deaths by upper caste students; there were curfew restrictions in several cities of northern states. With the court’s decision, the upper castes agitation is likely to come to an end. This agitation had engulfed the entire northern India in street demonstrations coming of public property and immolation deaths by upper caste students; there were curfew restrictions in several cities of northern states. The police fired at unruly crowds at many places. The Army had to be called in at more than half a dozen places as civil administration was paralysed with most upper caste bureaucrats lending a hidden support to the agitation.

Union Textile Minister Shard Yadav in a telling commentary said that the antiSikh rioters of 1984 had engineered anti-reservation agitation in Delhi and elsewhere in the country.

Akali Dal (M) leader S.S. Mann in a statement had accused the Prime Minister of dividing India along caste lines. However, the Panthic Committee in a statement had supported the cause of the Dalits and other backward castes and had asked them to embrace Sikhism which did not believe in casteism.

Article extracted from this publication >> October 5, 1990