TN govt holds discussions with legal experts on restoring Vanniyar quota

Tamil Nadu's DMK government has commenced a series of meetings with legal experts to check the possibilities of restoring the 10.5 per cent internal reservation for the Vanniayar community under the Most Backward Class quota.

The Supreme Court had struck down the internal reservation for the Vanniyar community, stating that it violated the fundamental rights of equality, non-discrimination and equal opportunity of 115 other MBCs and de-notified communities in the state.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin held a meeting with top officials of the Law Department along with Law Minister, S. Raghupathi and Chief Secretary V. Irai Anbu on Thursday at the Secretariat to brain storm for a solution to restore the reservation.

Stalin had, during a debate in the Assembly earlier in April, said that the government would take steps to restore Vanniyar reservation just like it had secured 7.5 per cent horizontal quota for students of state government schools for admission in professional courses.

The PMK, the political arm of the Vanniyar community, is on a relentless struggle for restoring reservation for the community under the MBC quota. Party founder leader Dr S. Ramadoss has urged the state government to furnish the data on the backward and most backward classes in the state and to restore the internal reservation for the Vanniyar community.

While the previous AIADMK government under K. Palaniswami had passed the bill for the 10.5 per cent internal reservation just days before the notification to the 2021 Assembly elections, the DMK government, that succeeded the AIADMK, passed the orders for the reservation. The DMK is trying to woo the PMK as the party can become more stronger in northern Tamil Nadu which is a fiefdom of the Vanniyar community.