Madras high court mulls making vanniyar community quota benefit conditional – Times of India

CHENNAI: The Madras high court has wondered why it should not stay the operation of 10.5% internal reservation provided for the vanniyar community within the 20% most backward class (MBC) quota.
“Why interim orders should not be passed that admissions and appointments made providing the reservation would be subject to the outcome of the batch of writ petitions challenging the validity of the reservation,” a division bench of Justice M M Sundresh and Justice S Kannammal said on Tuesday.
The court then adjourned the hearing to August 25 for advocate general R Shunmugasundaram to make his submissions on behalf of the state.
Earlier, when the pleas were taken up for hearing, senior advocate K M Vijayan, appearing for the petitioners, wanted the court to pass an interim order restraining the state from implementing the reservation.
On August 10, the Tamil Nadu government informed the high court that the 10.5% internal reservation for Vanniyars had been provided based on the survey conducted by the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission in 1983.
Through a counter-affidavit, the state submitted that such exclusive reservation would not affect the prospects of the members of the other MBCs, BCs and other communities.
“Enumeration of caste data in the state is cannot be done in view of the 2015 judgment of the Supreme Court, wherein such a direction issued by the high court for caste data in the census had been set aside,” the affidavit said.