Chidambaram dares BJP to own up SC ruling on quota

New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) Former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Monday dared the BJP to "own up" the Supreme Court judgement which said that quota in promotions for government jobs is not a fundamental right. Chidambaram said if the saffron party does not agree with it "let it say" and "spell out the corrective measure". In a series of tweets, Chidambaram said, "The government and the BJP cannot distance themselves from the Supreme Court's judgement on reservation not being mandatory." "If the BJP does not agree with the judgement, let it say so and spell out the corrective measures," he said. Hitting out at the BJP government, the Congress leader said that the BJP government of Uttarakhand put forward the argument that was accepted by the Court. "BJP must own up to the judgement and tell us if it will allow the declaration of law to remain unchallenged," he added. In its verdict delivered on February 7 (Friday) on appeals on reservations for SC/ST community members in promotions to Assistant Engineer (Civil) posts in the Public Works Department of the Uttarakhand government, the Supreme Court said that the quotas and reservations for promotions for government jobs is not a fundamental right. The top court said it could not compel states to provide quotas and states could not be forced to make such provisions without data showing imbalance in representation of certain communities in public service. The apex court overturned a 2012 ruling by the Uttarakhand High Court which directed the state to provide quotas to specified communities.
--IANS aks/skp/