MAPUSA
Trying to fire-fight the OBC reservation issue, Chief Minister, Pramod Sawant told the Goa Legislative Assembly that the government provided the required data following the triple test criteria to the OBC commission.
Sawant also said that there was no intention whatsoever to delay the panchayat polls but on account of heavy rains the government had requested to hold the election after one month.
“We got the triple test done through the OBC commission. The OBC commission handed the reservation to the State Election Commission (SEC) and the SEC then declared the notification. If anyone has gone to court despite the notification then we cannot help it,” Sawant said.
He pointed out that the government had nothing to hide and the OBC reservation was done after referring to the data of 2013.
“The triple test list was presented on July 5. The entire data was collated by the social welfare and the directorate of panchayat departments. The OBC commission studied both the data and submitted it to the SEC,” he said.
He further informed that the OBC reservation is done as per the percentage of the OBC people in the panchayat area.
“An OBC ward is also fixed on rotation basis as per rule. Same ward cannot remain OBC continuously. So some wards which may have less OBC voters may have been reserved for OBC. We have to follow the law,” Sawant informed the House.
