Patna, April 15: As the Union government prepares to file its reply before the Supreme Court for vacating the March 29 interim stay on implementing OBC quota in admission to central institutions of higher learning, a Bihar organisation spearheading the cause of most deprived among the backwards has decided to use the opportunity to press for its demand.

The Deprived and Extremely Backward Classes Coordination Committee is critical of the apex court’s stay on the implementation of the quota regime.

“It would send a wrong message and divide the society,” convener Kishori Das told The Telegraph.

But the larger issue, according to him, is to finally divide the 27 per cent quota earmarked for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and assign a deserving share to the Most Backward Classes (MBCs).

“We will be filing an intervening petition before the Supreme Court seeking a directive to the Union government in this regard. The Centre has for long supported our line but it has failed to act. We favour a caste-based census so that the exact population of all social categories becomes authentic public information,” Das said.

Till such a census takes place, the committee wants 18 per cent reservation to be provided to the MBCs (also known as Extremely Backward Classes or EBCs) and the remaining OBCs can be provided 9 per cent, where the creamy layer can be excluded for benefits.

“Being the poorest and the most backward, the MBCs have no creamy layer like the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. What’s more, these castes have not only been identified but states like Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are providing separate reservations for them. When the Bihar government made quota provisions for EBCs in the panchayats, no one raised a finger because they undoubtedly deserve the benefit,” Das added.

The Supreme Court has observed that the “outdated” 1931 census could not be the basis for ascertaining the population of the OBCs. But the committee argued that a constitution bench accepted the data on OBCs collected in 1979-80 in the Indra Sawhney case. Besides, the Mandal Commission had relied on these figures and the apex court later validated the implementation of its recommendations.