Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder S Ramadoss claimed in Madras High Court that Vanniyars had been unable to compete for jobs or education within the 20% reservation for MBCs. In his counter-affidavit filed in response to a batch of writ petitions and PILs challenging the reservation introduced by the previous AIADMK government early this year, Ramadoss said the statement of objects and reasons prefixing the Special Act 8 of 2021 spells out the grounds on which the 10.5% internal reservation had been provided.
He further stated that “the petitioners could not prove any political motive, malice or mala fide because the law providing the internal reservation to Vanniyars was passed ahead of the Assembly elections held in April this year. The very fact that the DMK, which succeeded the AIADMK to form the government, had issued GOs to implement the provisions of the Special Act 8 of 2021 passed earlier, would defeat the contention.”
He denied the allegation that the 10.5% reservation had been made by the previous government for political gains, passing the law minutes before the ECI was set to announce the dates for the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, calling it “a product of wild imagination and baseless assumption.”
His counter-affidavit also says that a law could be challenged only on the grounds of legislative competence or alleged violation of fundamental rights, adding that the petitioners could not succeed on either of the grounds since the state legislature was fully competent to pass the law and there was no violation of any fundamental right.
Denying the contention that the law had been enacted hastily without waiting for the report of the Justice A Kulasekaran Committee, Ramadoss claimed the panel was constituted only to examine whether the overall reservation of 69% required any modification and not to examine the issue of internal reservations for Vanniyars.
(With inputs from PTI)