POLITICAL SCIENCE -Latest Court Verdicts

Supreme Court, in a majority verdict, upholds the EWS quota

• The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in a 3:2 majority decision, upheld the validity of the 103rd Constitutional Amendment, which provides 10% reservation in government jobs and educational institutions to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of society but excludes the “poorest of poor” among Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), 
• Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) from its scope.
• Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, Bela M. Trivedi and J.B. Pardiwala delivered the majority opinions on the five ­judge Bench in an hour­long session.
• Chief Justice U.U. Lalit and Justice S. Ravindra Bhat gave the minority view.
• The three judges in the majority held that reservation on economic criterion alone did not violate the Basic Structure of the Constitution.

Reservation is not a long time solution

Justice Bela M. Trivedi, who was part of the majority judgment, said the reservation policy must have a time span. She pointed out that at the end of 75 years of our Independence, India need to revisit the system of reservation in the larger interest of the society as a whole, as a step forward towards transformative constitutionalism. 

• The representation of Anglo­Indian communities in Parliament and Assemblies has alrea­dy stopped by virtue of the 104th Constitutional Amendment from January 25, 2020.
• Long-term solution, however, lies in eliminating the causes that have led to the social, educational and economic backwardness of the weaker sections of the community.

State to set norms to identify the beneficiaries of EWS quota

• The majority judgment of the Constitution Bench held that the lack of guidelines to identify economic backwardness under the 10% EWS quota cannot be used to question the 103rd Amendment.
• The question as to whether any particular section or person falls within the class of ‘economically weaker sections of citizens’ should be based on the parameters laid down and indicators taken into consideration by the state.

Verdict may seal fate of challenge to T.N. quota law, Justice Bhat cautions

• Justice S. Ravindra Bhat held that upholding the verdict quota creation of 10% Economically Weaker Section reservation over and above the 50% existing quota will have an impact on the case pending in the court which challenges the 69% reservation in Tamil Nadu.
• The breach of the 50% limit in reservation is the principal ground of attack against the 76th Constitutional Amendment of 1994 which inserted, as Entry 257A, the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Act, 1993 in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.
• The Tamil Nadu quota law of 1993 was challenged by a student, C.V. Gayathri.