President appoints Commission to examine OBC sub-categorization

New Delhi, Oct 2 (IANS) President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday appointed a five-member Commission headed by Delhi High Court's former Chief Justice G. Rohini to examine sub categorization of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) under Article 340 of the Constitution, an official statement said.

This decision has been taken to ensure more backward among the OBC communities to avail the benefits of reservation, added the statement from the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry.

"The President in exercise of the powers conferred by article 340 of the Constitution appointed a Commission to examine the sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes.

"This decision, taken on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, reinforces, in the spirit of his teachings, the government's efforts to achieve greater social justice and inclusion for all, and specifically members of the Other Backward Classes," it added.

The Commission will have as its members J. K. Bajaj, the Director of Centre for Policy Studies, and the Director, Anthropological Survey of India and the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, while Joint Secretary in the Ministry will be its Secretary.

It will examine the extent of inequitable distribution of benefits of reservation among the castes or communities included in the broad category of OBCs with reference to such classes included in the Central List.

It wil also work out the mechanism, criteria, norms and parameters in a scientific approach for sub-categorisation within such OBCs and will take up the exercise of identifying the respective castes or communities or sub-castes or synonyms in the Central List of OBCs and classifying them into their respective sub-categories.

The Commission has been asked to submit its report to the President within a period of twelve weeks of assumption of charge by the chairperson.

On receipt of the report, the Central government will consider ways and means for equitable distribution of the benefits of the reservation in Central government jobs and admission in Central government institutions amongst all strata of OBCs.