Panel moots OBC quota in Secunderabad Cantonment polls

SECUNDERABAD: While the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) has completed the process of reservations for women and Scheduled Caste (SC) members for the upcoming Cantonment board elections, the ministry of defence (MoD) has now recommended a provision for reservation of seats for other backward classes (OBCs) as well.
The Sumit Bose committee, which was constituted by the MoD to study the working of Cantonment Boards, has recommended this provision for all Cantonment board elections.

The committee has also submitted recommendations on various other aspects to the MoD. These recommendations were then communicated by the chief executive officers to Cantonment boards across the country.
Highly-placed sources in SCB confirmed to TOI that the provision for reservations of OBCs in the upcoming elections would be placed before the board meeting.
The sources, however, clarified that a gazette notification has to be issued by the MoD regarding this recommendation and only then will the move be implemented.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leaders from Secunderabad Cantonment have approached national executive member and BJP MLC, N Ramchandra Rao to discuss the recommendations put forth by the Bose committee. “We welcome the recommendation on reservation for OBCs in Cantonment elections, and will soon meet the director general defence estates (DGDE), Delhi, to implement it in SCB polls,” said Rao.
The committee submitted a recommendation regarding the election procedure of the vice president of Cantonment board. The committee recommended that the vice president be directly elected by civilians and not by an elected member of the civilian ward, which is the current practice.