'Migrants enjoy opportunities deserved by Pondy natives'

CHENNAI: The petitioner said as per the treaty of cession signed by Indian and French governments merging Puducherry with India in 1954, the government must give preferential treatment to the origins of Puducherry in the fields of education, employment and welfare measures. The terms of the treaty was followed until 1970. However the government passed a circular on October 22 and simplified the procedure to issue nativity certificates to migrants, who resided more than 5 years in Puducherry.
"The said circular was very much against the interest of the origins of Pondicherry and to defeat the purpose enumerated in the treaty of cession," Raghupathy said.
He said the Puducherry state-level commission for backward classes and the department of revenue, Puducherry submitted individual recommendations fixing the cutoff date to determine origins/natives of Puducherry as early as 2007. He said the association submitted a representation to the Lt Governor in 2010 with signatures of 17 elected members of the legislative assembly (total seats 30). However the government failed to initiate any effort forcing Raghupathy to approach the Madras high court for a favourable direction.
Raghupathy regretted that in the absence of clear criteria to determine the origins/natives of Puducherry, the migrants continue to enjoy education and employment opportunities against the interest of the natives. He insisted that the government must not conduct any recruitment process until fixing the cutoff date.
Puducherry government, which earlier fixed March 5, 1964 as the cutoff date to determine origins/natives among schedule caste people in Puducherry, has been extending benefits of reservation only to origins/natives and their descents. The government decided not to extend reservation for scheduled caste people, who settled in Puducherry after March 5, 1964.
Raghupathy pointed out that government cannot have different cutoff dates for different castes and urged it to fix March 5, 1964 as the cutoff date to determine origins/natives among other classes including OBCs in Puducherry.