Ramadoss wants TN govt to guarantee 10.5% quota to Vanniyars

Chennai, June 3 Founder leader of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), S. Ramadoss has called upon the Tamil Nadu government to guarantee the 10.5 per cent reservation for Vanniyar community under Most Backward Class (MBC) quota which was passed in the state assembly in February during the previous AIADMK government and which was given assent by the Governor.

He said that the state government should not bring in unfounded reasons to deny the reservation to the Vanniyar community under the Most Backward Class quota.

In a statement released on Wednesday night, the PMK leader came out against the state minister for Backward Classes and Most Backward Classes and Minority welfare S.S. Shivashankar for saying that the 10.5 per cent reservation to Vanniyars under the MBC quota cannot be implemented as cases are filed in the Madras High Court against it.

Ramadoss said, "The Governor's consent was given to the bill passed in the Tamil Nadu assembly in February and a Government Order(GO) was published by the Higher Education Department on April 1. Other departments should have passed similar orders and 10.5 per cent reservation would have been implemented. The responsibility and onus to ensure social justice lies with the Backward Class Minister."

The PMK leader also said that as other departments had not published it, the job opportunities for several Vanniyar youths are waning.

He said, "In a circular that announced that 555 persons will be appointed as homeopath doctors, doctor assistants in PHCs temporarily by the Health Ministry, it has been announced that the previous reservation policy will be followed. For appointments to several posts in Madras High court, it has been said that 10.5 per cent reservation will be implemented once the pending cases are concluded. Both these decisions are wrong."

He said that similar cases against the 69 per cent reservation was pending in the Supreme Court and yet appointments are being made. The senior leader said that the responsibility for ensuring reservation to the Vanniyars lies with the Minister for Backward classes and as he is not providing a clear picture on the same, the chief minister must clarify.

The PMK founder leader in the statement said, "Yet, the reservation has been implemented for the past 27 years and cases against reservation for Muslims and Arundhathiyars are pending in court. The reason why reservation has not been affected in these cases is that there is no stay on them."

Dr Ramadoss also demanded to enlist senior lawyers to look into the case of the reservation of Vanniyars in the MBC quota.