Proofs of more than 49 per cent quota handed over to Guj govt

Hardik Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) today handed over various documents to the Gujarat government backing their claim that it is possible to give more than 49 per cent reservation despite Supreme Court cap.
The members of the Samiti held a meeting with Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel to resolve the issue of reservation for the Patel community under OBC quota.
The meeting, held at the Secretariat in Gandhinagar between Patel and 11 PAAS leaders, including Dinesh Bambhaniya and Varun Patel, lasted for almost 3-hours, said an official release issued here.
After the meeting, Patel said the government will once again invite PAAS leaders for another round of meeting next week after studying proofs provided by them.

"PAAS leaders gave us various documents, notifications and court orders related to reservation given by other states to some communities. We will study these documents and call them (PAAS leaders) again for another round of meeting after one week," said Patel.
He added that state government is positively looking into the various demands put forward by PAAS and will call some other organisations, such as Sardar Patel Group (SPG), for talks with government on this issue. Both these groups (PAAS and SPG) are fighting for reservation to the Patel community.

The first meeting between PAAS and a group of ministers including Nitin Patel on December 1 had remained inconclusive. On Monday, Patel appealed PAAS to provide proof to back its claim that it is possible to give more than 49 per cent reservation, as some states had done so despite of Supreme Court cap.

Meanwhile, in a message sent from Udaipur, where he is living in exile as part of the conditional bail granted to him by the Gujarat High Court, Hardik Patel gave another ultimatum to the government.
"It seems that government is only passing time instead of bringing a solution. We demand that government clears it's stand in the next five days. If government fails to resolve the issue, no one can stop us from starting the fresh round of agitation" said Patel, whose exile period is ending on January 17.