CHHATTISGARH CHIEF Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday told the media that his government has sent its reply to all the 10 questions raised by Governor Anusuiya Uikey, who has yet not given her assent to the reservation amendment Bills passed in the Assembly earlier this month. “We have sent a reply to the Governor even though such an arrangement is not there in the Constitution. She should have taken replies from the departments concerned. But the reply has been sent. Now she should sign (on the Bill),” said the Chief Minister. An official in the Governor's house in Raipur told The Indian Express that Uikey is on a visit to Bilaspur and will return on Sunday evening after which a comment can be expected from her. The Chief Minister and the Governor got into a tug of war earlier this month over the reservation amendment Bills proposing to take the total quota in the state to 76 per cent. On December 2, the Legislative Assembly unanimously passed two Bills — Chhattisgarh Public Service (Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes Reservation) Amendment Bill and Chhattisgarh Educational Institutions (Reservation in admission) Amendment Bill — related to reservation in government jobs and admission to educational institutions in proportion to population of different categories. The Bills propose 32 per cent reservation for Scheduled Tribes, 27 per cent for Other Backward Classes and 13 per cent quota for Scheduled Castes, while 4 per cent has been provisioned for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in public employment and admissions in educational institutions. The Bills are pending with Governor Uikey who has sought to know the basis on which the state government is planning to increase the reservation beyond the 50 per cent ceiling. The 10 answers sought by Uikey include details of quantitative data on SC/ST communities, if collected by the government, before tabling the Bill; any study or extraordinary situation compelling the state government to hike reservation beyond the 50 per cent ceiling; data on how SC/ST are deprived of social, economic, and educational growth in the state; any committee report to support the Bills, among others. Reacting to Baghel's statement, BJP MLA Brijmohan Agrawal said the state government should make public its reply to the Governor on the reservation bills. The issue of reservation flared up after the Chhattisgarh High Court in September this year set aside the Raman Singh-headed state government's 2012 order to raise the quota to 58 per cent in government jobs and admissions in educational institutions, observing that reservation exceeding the 50 per cent ceiling “was unconstitutional”.
