Top court to examine validity of extending political reservation

Tribune News Service

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, September 20

Can Parliament use its constituent powers to repeatedly amend Article 334 of the Constitution to extend the reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies?

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A five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Wednesday said it would begin hearing on November 21 on the constitutional question arising out of petitions challenging the Constitution (104th Amendment) Act, 2019, that extended the political reservation by another 10 years. The Bench, which also included Justice AS Bopanna, Justice MM Sundresh, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, will examine the validity of the Constitution (104th Amendment) Act, 2019.

However, it clarified that it would not go into the validity of the previous extensions given to SC/ST quota by previous amendments.

On behalf of the petitioners, senior advocate CA Sundaram said the larger issue was if the constitutional amendments repeatedly extending periods of reservation violated the basic structure of the Constitution. To start with, Article 334 of the Constitution provided for reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and a special representation of the Anglo-Indian community by nomination in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies for 10 years. It’s extended after every 10 years by a constitutional amendment. However, the Bench clarified that it will not examine the issue of Anglo-India quota that came to an end after the expiration of 70 years from the commencement of the Constitution.

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