Chhattisgarh Assembly ratifies bill to extend SC/ST quota for 10 years

Chhattisgarh on Thursday joined the league of states to ratify the Constitution (126th) Amendment Bill that proposes to extend quota to Scheduled Caste (SC and Scheduled Tribe (ST) in Lok Sabha and state assemblies by another 10 years.

A special one-day session of the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly was held today to ratify the Constitution Amendment Bill, which was passed in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on December 10 and 12 respectively. The bill requires the consent of 50 per cent state assemblies.

The resolution to ratify the bill was moved in the House by Chhattisgarh Law Minister Mohammed Akbar. While referring to the abandoned Tata Steel’s Bastar plan, he said the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government did not bother to protect the interest of tribals and held their land for the industry.

“It was Congress government that returned the land acquired for Tata Steel to the tribals,” Akbar said. Chhattisgarh Congress Committee Chief and senior legislator Mohan Markam said the Congress government had ensured reservation for ST, SC and Other backward class. He, however, expressed his concern over the discontinuation of quota for Anglo-Indian.

Former Chief Minister Raman Singh said instead of 10 years, the members of SC and ST should be given life-long reservation. “This was necessary for the interest of social justice,” he added.

The House later unanimously passed the resolution to ratify the Bill.