LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has directed the state and the Central governments to consider the demand of formation of a 'savarn ayog' (commission for upper castes) to assess their problems and address them. The order was passed on a public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Swaraj Party of India (SPI). The petitioner said that like the commissions for women and backward classes, there should also be a commission for upper castes to assess their socio-economic status, identify their problems, raise them at appropriate platforms and work for their redressal. The petition argued that the commission could also provide a platform for upper caste grievances.

According to Ashok Pande, the counsel of the petitioner, the latter had filed similar petitions earlier and the court had directed the government to consider the demand. But since nothing has been done so for, the court has now asked the government to take action and submit a report within two months.

The court has also allowed the petitioner to approach court again, if the government fails to take any action. The petitioner also cited the example of Bihar where the government has set up a commission for forward castes to look into the problems of upper castes.

The state already has commissions for minorities, women, other backward classes and scheduled castes and tribes.

The Bihar government had in January 2001 set up a commission to study the condition of economically and socially backward sections of upper castes as promised by chief minister Nitish Kumar during the state assembly elections. The commission, with an initial tenure of three years, is conducting a comprehensive study of the problems affecting the backward among the upper castes and suggest recommendations for their uplift.

Sources in the Samajwadi Party (SP) government in the state said that the government may constitute a commission for upper castes as directed by the court. It will also help the SP to woo upper caste voters. The party had already opposed the constitutional amendment bill for providing reservation in promotions in government jobs. This has been appreciated by the upper castes which constitute around 25% of the population. The amendment bill was supported by SP's arch rival Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) which wants to consolidate its dalit vote bank. The SP also got votes of dalits in the assembly elections. However, by opposing the bill , the SP has taken a risk of losing support of dalits. In such a situation, it is looking forward to compensate the loss with support of upper castes. In fact, the SP is planning to hold a brahmin convention soon to make inroads in the community.

The upper castes in the state at one point of time used to vote for the Congress but shifted their support to the BJP after Ram temple movement. In 2007, Mayawati was able to get some percentage of Brahmin votes through her `sarvjan card' and holding brahmin conventions. However, after losing elections earlier this year, the BSP focus in back on dalits. Now, the SP is trying its luck. The SP, in fact, already has some support base in thakur and vaishya communities among upper castes because of leaders like Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya, MLA from Kunda, and Naresh Agarwal, Rajya Sabha MP.