Published: 10th Nov, 2022
Context
The Supreme Court Constitution Bench has by a 3:2 majority upheld the validity of the 103rd Constitutional Amendment which introduced a 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in education and public employment.
What were the major issues in front of the apex court?
There were three main issues in the case:
- Whether the 103rd Constitution Amendment is violative of the basic structure for providing reservation solely based on economic criteria.
- Whether the amendment is violative of the basic structure for excluding the poor among the SC/ST/OBC categories from EWS Quota.
- Whether the amendment is violative of the basic structure for breaching the 50% ceiling limit.
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EWS Quota:
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Summarizing the Verdict:
While Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, Bela Trivedi, and JB Pardiwala upheld the 103rd Constitution Amendment, Justice S Ravindra Bhat wrote a dissenting judgment to strike it down. Chief Justice of India U.U Lalit concurred with the minority view of Justice Bhat.
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Majority view |
Dissenting View |
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What are the existing Income based Mismatches in the Law?
- The existing income criterion of ?8 lakh a year has already been questioned by the Court in a separate case, as it is liable to result in excessive coverage of socially advanced classes.
- When those exempted from filing I-T returns are only those with taxable income below ?2.5 lakh, it makes no sense to extend the reservation benefits to sections earning up to ?8 lakh.
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Impacts |
Consequences |
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Required Measures:
- Including other sections under Income-based reservations: It would better serve the objective of economic emancipation of other sections of society.
- Identification for the real beneficiary: The Government should make clear guidelines to identify economic backwardness and identify the beneficiaries of the EWS quota.
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