“The BJP government has been deliberately sitting on this amendment for the past eleven years,” Congress leaders said.
NEW DELHI — Stepping up its push for reservation in the private sector, the Congress on Friday demanded the enactment of a law to enforce quotas for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) students in private educational institutions, as mandated under Article 15(5) of the Constitution.
Addressing a joint press conference, Congress leaders Rajinder Pal Gautam (SC Department), Vikrant Bhuria (ST Department), and Anil Jaihind (OBC Department) alleged that a “deliberate conspiracy” was underway to deny quality higher education to nearly 90 per cent of the population comprising SCs, STs, and OBCs.
They recalled that the UPA government under Dr Manmohan Singh had amended Article 15 to introduce Article 15(5), enabling reservation in private educational institutions. Although the Supreme Court upheld its constitutional validity, the leaders pointed out that private institutions are still not legally bound to provide reservation in the absence of a specific law enacted by Parliament.
“The BJP government has been deliberately sitting on this amendment for the past eleven years,” the leaders charged, accusing the ruling party of systematically keeping SC/ST/OBC students away from higher education opportunities as government institutions shrink and privatisation expands.
Citing the Parliamentary Standing Committee headed by Digvijaya Singh, which strongly recommended a statute to enforce Article 15(5), the leaders highlighted stark disparities: only 0.89% of SC students, 0.53% of ST students, and 11.16% of OBC students are currently enrolled in private institutions.
They described the last eleven years as the “darkest period” for marginalised communities, saying privatisation has been used to bypass constitutional safeguards.
At present, there are 517 private universities and nearly 78.5% of degree colleges in the country—none of which provide reservation.
The Congress leaders demanded that the Centre immediately bring a law to enforce reservation in private educational institutions in line with Article 15(5).
