Justice Rohini Commission

The Rohini Commission, headed by retired Justice G Rohini, was set up in 2017 by the Union government to examine the feasibility and criteria for the sub-categorisation of OBCs. The commission submitted its long-awaited report to the President, after several extensions of its tenure. The report is widely expected to be politically sensitive, with a direct bearing on the electoral calculations of parties ahead of Lok Sabha elections. The contents of the report have not been made public as yet.

About Rohini Commission:

The commission was set up by the President under Article 340 of the Indian Constitution on October 2,2017.
It is headed by former Delhi High Court judge, Justice G. Rohini (retd).
Mandate: To examine the issues related to the sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes.
Terms of References:
- to examine the extent of inequitable distribution of benefits of reservation among the castes or communities included in the broad category of Other Backward Classes, with reference to such classes included in the Central List;
- to work out the mechanism, criteria, norms and parameters in a scientific approach for sub-categorisation within such Other Backward Classes;
- to take up the exercise of identifying the respective castes or communities or sub-castes or synonyms in the Central List of Other Backward Classes and classifying them into their respective sub-categories.

Objectives and Important Aspects of Rohini Commission

The Commission was constituted under Article 340 of the Indian Constitution on 2nd October 2017, with the approval of the President of India.
The Commission is headed by G. Rohini, a Retd Chief Justice of Delhi High Court.
It was appointed to examine the issues on sub-categorization of Other Backward Castes with reference to the following aspects:
- To study the extent of inequitable distribution of benefits of reservation among the castes listed in the broad category of OBC with reference to such classes included in the Central list.
- To devise the parameters, criteria, norms, and mechanisms in a scientific approach for sub-categorization within Other Backward Classes.
- To initiate the task of identifying respective classes, communities, sub-castes, or synonyms from the Central List of Other Backward Classes and categorizing them into respective sub-categories.
- The four-member commission is headed by Justice (Retd.) G. Rohini, Chief Justice (Retd.), Delhi High Court with the other three members being (a) Dr. J.K. Bajaj, Director, Centre for Policy Studies, New Delhi (b) Director, Anthropological Survey of India, Kolkata (ex-officio Member) (c) Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. (ex-officio Member). Justice G. Rohini, Chairperson of the Commission, belongs to the OBC community.

Need for sub-categorization:

The sub-categorization will ensure those communities that are more backward among the OBC communities can access the benefits of reservation in educational institutions and government jobs. (OBC Reservations)

Beneficiaries of the Commission

All the Communities existing in the list of OBCs who have not been able to get any major advantage from the system of reservation in admissions to Central Government Educational Institutions and were not able to secure Central Government jobs can benefit from the implementation of recommendations of the Commission.

Findings and Recommendations of the Commission

Justice Rohini Commission has proposed a four-category formula for the equitable redistribution of the 27% quota for Other Backward Classes. It has proposed a division of 2, 633 OBC castes in the Central list into four subcategories 1,2,3, and 4 to split the 27% OBC quota reservation.

Category 1: Category 1 includes 1,674 groups, largely the most disadvantaged groups to receive 2% reservation.
Category 2 consists of 534 caste groups with a 6% quota reservation
Category 3 includes 328 caste groups and 9% reservation
Category 4 comprises 97 caste groups with 10 % reservation

Challenges before the Rohini Commission

Absence of Data: Many communities lack the data on their population to compare that with the representation in Central Government jobs and admissions.
Absence of Caste-based surveys: In 2018, the Commission wrote to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment requesting a budget provision for the All India survey to estimate the caste-wise population of OBC’s.
Absence of Caste-based data in Census: Home Ministry has announced that data on OBCs will be collected by Census 2021. But there isn’t any progress made on this line.