SC seeks response from Centre on fresh plea against 10% quota to general category

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 8

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre on activist Tehseen Poonawalla’s petition challenging the Centre’s decision to grant 10% reservation to the economically weaker section (EWS) of general category in public employment and education, including private educational institutions.

However, a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said there shall be no stay on the decision to grant reservation to EWS among the general category.

The top court has already sought the Centre’s response to some other petitions against EWS quota, including the one filed by ‘Youth For Equality’.

The petition challenging the Constitution (103^rd Amendment) Act, 2019—which paved the way for grant of reservation to EWS candidates of the general category—sought quashing of the law on the ground that backwardness for the purpose of reservation cannot be defined by “economic status alone”.

A day after Parliament passed the constitutional amendment to provide for 10% reservation to economically backward sections of the general category in government jobs and educational institutions, an NGO—Youth for Equality – had challenged its validity before the Supreme Court, contending it violated basic structure of the Constitution.

The law talks about a maximum of 10% of seats/posts in addition to the existing reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs, taking total reservation to 59%, much beyond the 50% ceiling fixed by the Supreme Court in the Indra Shawney case popularly known as Mandal Case. It also extends reservation to private aided and unaided educational institutions.

In its petition, Youth for Equality challenged Article 15(6) and Article 16(6) of the Constitution added by the amendment on the ground that economic criterion cannot be the sole basis for reservation and that economic reservation cannot be limited to the general category alone.

Both the petitions pointed that the new quota law exceeds the 50% ceiling fixed by the Supreme Court in Indra Shawney case cannot be breached. The two petitions have demanded a stay on the operation of the Act.

Further, it said imposing reservations on unaided institutions was manifestly arbitrary as it went against Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench verdicts, the NGO contended.

“Both the Constitution Bench judgments in T.M.A. Pai Foundation (2002) and P.A. Inamdar (2005) make it clear that the State’s reservation policy cannot be imposed on unaided educational institutions, and as they are not receiving any aid from the State, they can have their own admissions provided they are fair, transparent, non-exploitative and based on merit,” the Youth for Equality petition read.