The Goa Legislative Assembly witnessed a heated debate over job reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities with the Opposition members alleging huge backlog in filling of vacant posts reserved for these communities in various government departments,
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that the ongoing digital and caste-based population Census-2027 will provide a clearer picture of the percentage of OBC and other reserved categories in the State, as current data is inconclusive.
Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai who had tabled a starred question jointly with Aldona MLA Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira questioned the validity of the current 27 per cent OBC reservation, which is based on a study by the Centre for Development Planning and Evaluation (CDPR).
He pointed out population overlaps, stating, “If Goa has 27 per cent OBCs, 10 per cent Muslims, 23 per cent Catholics and 12 per cent Scheduled Tribes, where does the remaining population fit in?”
The Opposition members alleged a huge backlog in filling of vacant posts reserved for OBC in various government departments. Sardesai claimed that there is a backlog of 2,141 posts out of a total 8,325 posts and an additional backlog of 560 posts.
They further claimed that no liaison officers have been appointed by government departments to oversee OBC reservation while 29 departments have not verified reservation rosters and if verified then it was almost five years ago in violation of the policy.
Sardesai said that the Bhandari Samaj is also demanding “Quota within OBC Quota” and alleged that the BJP government was employing British ‘Divide and Rule’ policy on Bhandari Samaj.
The Chief Minister told him that the population Census was on and reservation could be finalised after getting the exact population of OBC communities.