Notwithstanding the hurdles it may face, Gujarat Congress is hoping to pass the ambitious private member Bill demanding a separate 20 per cent reservation for Economically Backward Classes (EBCs) in the ongoing assembly session by engaging in on the floor as well as off the floor strategies. The private Bill by Congress demanding separate reservation quota for EBC members of ‘unreserved’ category in the state was introduced in the Gujarat Assembly on March 10 by senior Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar alongwith three other party MLAs–Balwantisinh Rajput, Amit Chavda and Tejashreeben Patel. It is named as “the Gujarat EBC (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions in the State and of Appointments and Posts in Services under the State) Bill-2016.”
The Bill has been introduced in the wake of ongoing quota agitation by Patel community in Gujarat, which has helped Gujarat Congress to a great extent in winning Panchayat body polls held in November last year. Ahead of those polls, Congress leaders have openly came in support of Patel community’s demand for reservation. As promised by the party before the commencement of current state Assembly session, they have introduced the Bill in the House. Though the Bill has been introduced in the Assembly, there is no guarantee that it will be taken up for discussion, at least in this session, as there are more than 15 other such private member bills which are already in queue.
According to BJP MLA Bharat Patel, who is the Chairman of Assembly Committee on Private Members’ Business, there are thin chances of this Bill to be taken up for discussion, as the House will take up those bills first which were introduced prior to this Bill. “As per the schedule of this session, which will end on March 31, there is a space for only three private bills to be discussed in the House during the remaining days. As per the rules, we have to take pending bills first. Some of these pending bills are of 2015 or prior to that year,” said Patel. “However, this Bill can be taken up in this session if Congress members, whose bills are already pending, withdraw their bills to make way for this Bill, or, the Speaker allows the request from Congress to discuss this Bill in this session on priority basis,” added Patel.
