SC quota sub-categorisation verdict Cong says will finalise stand in 2-3 weeks after consultations

    New Delhi, Aug 6 (PTI) The Congress top brass brainstormed on Tuesday over the Supreme Court's decision allowing states to create sub-categorisation within the SCs and STs, and said it will decide its stand on the issue in two-three weeks, after AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge holds consultations with the party's chief ministers, state unit chiefs and civil society groups.
    In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court last Thursday held that states are constitutionally empowered to make sub-classifications within the Scheduled Castes (SCs), which form a socially-heterogeneous class, for granting reservation for the uplift of the castes that are socially and educationally more backward.
    By a 6:1 majority, a seven-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud set aside the apex court's 2004 five-judge bench verdict in the E V Chinnaiah vs State of Andhra Pradesh case, which had held that no sub-classification of the SCs can be allowed as they are a homogeneous class in themselves.
    Top Congress leaders, including former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, met at Kharge's residence to brainstorm on the verdict and decide on the party's stand.
    "On Tuesday evening, the Congress president called a meeting that included some MPs and senior AICC officials. At this meeting, Congress Parliamentary Party president Sonia Gandhi and former Congress president and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi were also present. The topic of discussion was the recent Supreme Court decision on the sub-categorisation of SC and ST communities, and the issues surrounding it," Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh told reporters after the meeting.
    "The meeting went on for an hour and a half. The Congress president will now meet our chief ministers. He will also speak with PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) leaders and chiefs of various state units as well as civil society groups, and the Congress party will take a decision in the next two-three weeks regarding this verdict," Ramesh said.
    He said the continuous demand of the Congress and Rahul Gandhi for a nationwide caste census was also discussed at the meeting and the necessity of conducting such a census was also deliberated upon.
    "It is our demand that the 50-per cent cap on reservation be removed by bringing a constitutional amendment," Ramesh said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)