‘Hopeful of favourable judgment on 4.5% minority sub quota’

Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections in December 2011,the Centre had announced the creation of a 4.5 per cent sub-quota for backward minorities within the 27 per cent quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in jobs and admission to educational institutions. The new proposal was mooted as there were complaints that Muslim OBCs who account for nine per cent of the total Muslim population were not getting adequate representation from the OBC reservation quota. To end this anomaly,the government had decided to start the quota within the quota system.

In May 2012,the Andhra Pradesh High Court which had thrice quashed a proposal by the Andhra Government for reservation of Muslims,quashed the Centre’s decision too stating that the Centre had acted in a “casual manner” and that creation of the sub-quota was based on religious grounds. The Centre subsequently appealed against the order which is now before the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court.

There has been a growing clamour for reservations for Muslims. A committee appointed by the Maharashtra Government to study the condition of Muslims in the state is also expected to recommend reservations for Muslims in jobs and education. “We strongly believe that it is important to give reservations to Muslims to ensure that they become an integral part of the mainstream,” Minority Affairs Minister of Maharashtra Arif Naseem Khan said in the seminar.

Dwelling on the under representation of Muslims and OBCs in the Muslim community in government jobs,Maulana Fazlur Rahim Mujaddidi,the Rector of Jamia-Tul-Hidaya Jaipur,said that the representation of Muslims in the state police force was abysmal.

“Of the total 2,947 Assistant Police Inspectors in Maharashtra,the representation of Muslims is only 4.5 per cent with 135 APIs. In the OBC category,of the 538 APIs the representation is only 0.95 per cent with five Muslims,” he added.