The Justice G. Rohini Commission for the sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes (OBC) caste groups on Monday submitted its report to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, nearly six years after the Union government first assigned the task to it — a task that was initially meant to be finished in 12 weeks.
Commission and OBC Reservation
The government had formed the commission in 2017, to be headed by former Delhi High Court Chief Justice, Justice G. Rohini. The commission also had as a member J.K. Bajaj from the Centre for Policy Studies, along with others.
The commission was asked to examine the extent to which reservation and other benefits for OBCs are concentrated among some dominant caste groups.
Based on this, the commission was then tasked with suggesting a breakdown of the over 2,600 caste groups on the Central OBC list so that these benefits could be equitably redistributed.
According to sources, the commission has suggested breaking the caste groups into broad categories, with the dominant castes [with most access to benefits] getting the smallest share of the 27% reservation, and the historically crowded-out caste groups getting the largest share of the reservation pie.
Now that the commission’s report is with the Social Justice Ministry, the government is expected to hold deliberations on the recommendations contained in it.