Reservation for EWS a travesty of justice, says former A-G Ravivarma Kumar

MYSURU

Former Advocate General Ravivarma Kumar said with reference to the EWS quota here on Sunday that it was a travesty of justice that people who opposed the recommendations and implementation of the Havanur Commission report in the 1970s were queuing up to seek reservation in the present times.

He was speaking after releasing a Kannada book ‘’Meesalaatiya Olanota’’ providing insight into reservation authored by former bureaucrat K.N. Lingappa.

Citing the observation of the Apex Court on EWS quota, Mr. Ravivarma Kumar pointed out that among the economically weaker section, the bulk of the population are SC/STs and wondered if it did not amount to discrimination by excluding them from EWS quota.

He said what is equally disturbing is that the 1 st amendment to the Constitution providing reservation for the educational progress of the SC/STs and the OBCs results in elaborate public discussion. But the quota for EWS was rushed through without any public debate or discussion nor was there opposition in the Parliament to it, said Mr. Ravivarma Kumar.

This, he said, ‘’Reinforced the views that the leadership of political parties across ideological spectrum was controlled by the upper castes and they were interested in their self-preservation’’.

The former advocate general dwelt into the history of reservation on caste basis and said that it was a matter of pride that the concept of social justice through affirmative policies was informally introduced as early as in 1874 by the Mysuru Kingdom, adding that it was the first such exercise in the world.  

Though Jyotibha Phule had mooted it in 1881, it was not implemented. The concept of reservation received an institutional and scientific framework with the Miller Commission submitting its report in 1919 to the maharaja Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, said Mr. Ravivarma Kumar.