New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the Tamil Nadu law passed in February 2021 granting 10.5% quota to Vanniyar community among the Most Backward Classes (MBC) even as it agreed to issue a notice to the Tamil Nadu government and tagged it along with similar petitions challenging the same law. A bench of justices L Nageswara Rao and S Ravindra Bhat noticed that petitions challenging the 2021 Act are pending in the top court as well as the Madras high court. In Tamil Nadu, by way of a 1994 law, 20% reservation in jobs and admissions is being provided to MBCs.

In February 2021, the AIADMK government passed a law providing for internal reservations within this 20% quota. Among MBCs, this law benefited the Vanniyakula Kshatriya community the most as the law allocated a 10.5% quota to them. The remaining share of 9.5% was apportioned between Denotified Communities and other MBCs.

Senior advocate S Nagamuthu appeared for the petition filed by S Sandeep Kumar questioning the validity of the law. He sought a stay of the law alleging that it was passed for political considerations in a hurried manner without any discussion. Moreover, he pointed out that on December 21, 2020, the state government appointed a one-man judicial commit headed by a retired high court judge, Justice (Retd) A Kulasekaran, to gather quantifiable data on the identified castes and tribes in the state. This committee is yet to submit its report.

The petition filed through advocate P Sriram said, “The impugned Act has been passed without there being any quantifiable data relating to social and educational backwardness of the Vanniyakula Kshatriyas so as to classify the said community as a separate sub-clause within the most backward classes.”

Nagamuthu told the court that due to such a law, despite the state having 122 MBCs, all reservation benefits have been cornered by one community. He said that the law was passed on the assumption that the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission made a recommendation for a separate quota for the Vanniyakula Kshatriya community. This was disputed by the petitioner saying, “TN Backward Classes Commission never recommended for separate quota for Vanniyakula Kshatriyas. It was a letter written to the government by justice (Retd) MS Janardhanan, the chairman of the Commission in his individual capacity. The commission had seven other members. The petition also questioned the timing of bringing the law. The then AIADMK government introduced the 2021 Bill on February 26 and passed it hours before the Election Commission announced the schedule for assembly elections in the state. “The Bill is politically motivated and to please Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), which is a splinter group of Vanniyakula Kshatriya community.” The PMK fought the TN state elections this year in alliance with AIADMK.

The apex court gave the petitioner the option to approach the high court where the issue is already under consideration. Nagamuthu insisted the court to issue notice and keep it pending in the apex court along with similar other petitions.