National Update: Supreme Court Judgement On Reservation!
Supreme Court Judgement On Reservation: For the sake of reservation, state governments can create sub-categories in scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. A 7-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court gave this decision by majority on Thursday. The constitution bench has overturned the decision of 5 judges given in the EV Chinnaiya case in 2004. In that decision, SC had said that sub-categories cannot be created in SC/ST.
The Supreme Court upheld the sub-classification within SC/ST. Chief Justice DY Chandrachud delivered the decision by a majority of 6-1. Justice Bela Trivedi passed the order dissenting from the rest of the judges. The CJI said, 'We have rejected the decision given in the EV Chinnaiya case. Sub-classification does not violate Article 14, because the sub-classes have not been excluded from the list.'
While reading out the verdict, the CJI said, 'The criteria used to identify Scheduled Castes from the classes itself shows that there is diversity within the classes.' He said that there is nothing in Articles 15, and 16 that prevents the state from sub-classifying a caste. However, the SC has said in the verdict that the basis of sub-classification should be justified by quantitative and demonstrable data by the states, it cannot act at its own will.
No 100% reservation for anyone sub-category
Justice BR Gavai said that the ground reality cannot be denied, there are categories within SC/ST that have suffered oppression for centuries. He said that the basis of sub-classification is that one group of a larger group faces more discrimination. Justice Gavai said in the judgment that while allowing sub-classification, the state cannot keep 100% reservation for only one sub-class.
'Creamy layer should be identified and kept out'
Justice BR Gavai said in his judgment, 'The state should develop a policy to identify the creamy layer in the category of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and keep them out of the ambit of affirmative action. In my view, this is the only way to achieve true equality enshrined in the Constitution.'
What the Supreme Court's decision means
SC has allowed the state governments to do sub-classification within the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. That is, different categories of castes falling under these categories can be made. Castes of selected categories will get more reservations within the prescribed limits. Suppose, in a state, 150 castes fall under the category of SC. If the state government wants, it can make different categories of these and give them weightage in the reservation.