The Congress on Thursday said the Supreme Court stay on the law providing for 27 percent reservation for backward classes in elite central educational institutions was an interim arrangement.

"This is an interim arrangement till the next hearing and if a better factual foundation is available then I am sure that can also be used," Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters.

He said the court had not stigmatised the concept of reservation per se.

"The court is not against the concept. It is against the lack of data," he said.

Singhvi said the court has said that a better database is required. "We do not whether the government has a better database. If it has I am sure we can put it before the court," he said.

In its interim order staying the Central Educational Institution (Reservation in Admission) Act of 2006, the Supreme Court held that the 1931 census could not be a determinative factor for identifying the OBCs for the purpose of providing quota.

However, it clarified that the benefit of reservation for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes could not be withheld and the Centre can go ahead with the identification process to determine the backward classes.