Govt to move apex court on sub-quota order

May 30, 2012

New Delhi, May 30: The Centre will move the Supreme Court against the order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court striking down provision to provide 4.5 per cent sub-quota for the minorities.

Strongly defending its decision to earmark sub-quota for minorities within the 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes in Central educational institutions and jobs, Law Minister Salman Khurshid said on Tuesday that the Centre would file a special leave petition before the apex court at the earliest. “We will address the issue with a sense of urgency.”

The minister was answering questions by journalists over the AP High Court order quashing the Centre’s order on sub-quota for minorities. The High Court had observed that there was no evidence to justify the classification of these religious minorities as a homogeneous group or as more backward classes deserving some special treatment.

The Union government’s order on December 22, 2011, providing the quota within quota had evoked strong criticism as it came just before the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and other states. Khurshid was a strong votary of the decision. While the BJP and other parties had criticised the government’s move, the Left parties had supported it – with the CPM even demanding enhancement of the sub-quota to 10 per cent. States such as Karnataka and Bihar have already provided sub-quota for minorities.

Referring to the HC order, Khurshid said the Centre’s order was not based on religion but it also considered linguistic minority status. He said the HC had rightly stated that community cannot be given reservation only on the basis of religion and added: “Yes in the Constitution you cannot make religion the only criteria for giving reservation to a community. Minority is not just a religion. It is also linguistic. The expression of the word minority is both religious and linguistic.”

Defending the Centre’s decision, he said the move was based on the Mandal Commission report.

He added that the government did not include any new caste from the minorities in the OBC list (basing its report on the 1931 caste census, the Mandal Commission, set up in 1978, submitted its report in 1980, recommending for 27 per cent quota for the OBCs).

On the impact of the HC order on the students – those in Central institutions such as the IITs – Khurshid said Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal has informed him that selection process was still on. This is the fourth time that the HC has struck down minority reservation. The court hammer on the order issued by late Rajasekhara Reddy government fulfilling a poll promise by setting aside 5 per cent reservation came within three months saying that it was totally unconstitutional.

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Chaos continues as IndiGo cancels more flights including 73 from Bengaluru airport

News Network

December 4,2025

Domestic carrier IndiGo has cancelled over 180 flights from three major airports — Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru — on Thursday, December 4, as the airline struggles to secure the required crew to operate its flights in the wake of new flight-duty and rest-period norms for pilots.

While the number of cancellations at Mumbai airport stands at 86 (41 arrivals and 45 departures) for the day, at Bengaluru, 73 flights have been cancelled, including 41 arrivals, according to a PTI report that quoted sources.

"IndiGo cancelled over 180 flights on Thursday at three airports-Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru," the source told the news agency.

Besides, it had cancelled as many as 33 flights at Delhi airport for Thursday, the source said, adding, "The number of cancellations is expected to be higher by the end of the day."

The Gurugram-based airline's On-Time Performance (OTP) nosedived to 19.7 per cent at six key airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — on December 3, as it struggled to get the required crew to operate its services, down from almost half of December 2, when it was 35 per cent.

"IndiGo has been facing acute crew shortage since the implementation of the second phase of the FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) norms, leading to cancellations and huge delays in its operations across the airports," a source had told PTI on Wednesday.

Chaos continued at several major airports for the third day on Thursday because of the cancellations.

A spokesperson for the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru said that 73 IndiGo flights had been cancelled on Thursday.

At least 150 flights were cancelled and dozens of others delayed on Wednesday, airport sources said, leaving thousands of travellers stranded, according to news agency Reuters.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said it is investigating IndiGo flight disruptions and has asked the airline to submit the reasons for the current situation, as well as its plans to reduce flight cancellations and delays.

It may be mentioned here that the pilots' body, Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze".

The FIP said it has urged the safety regulator, the DGCA, not to approve airlines' seasonal flight schedules unless they have adequate staff to operate their services "safely and reliably" in accordance with the New Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms.

In a letter to the DGCA late on Wednesday, the FIP urged the DGCA to consider re-evaluating and reallocating slots to other airlines, which have the capacity to operate them without disruption during the peak holiday and fog season if IndiGo continues to "fail in delivering on its commitments to passengers due to its own avoidable staffing shortages."

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