Plea against 10% Quota Bill to be heard by SC on April 8

On March 28, the Supreme Court adjourned for April 8 a group of pleas which challenge the Constitution amendment for 10% reservation in jobs and education for the economically weaker sections of the general category. Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan mentioned delaying the case can lead to “massive appointments”. He also suggested setting up of the Constitution Bench to hear the case.

On March 11, the court had stated that it will take a decision regarding the pleas challenging the Constitution Amendment which could only be heard by the Constitution Bench.

Earlier, the court had said no to stay the implementation of the 10% reservation given to the economically weak in education and jobs. The court was hearing the pleas that had been filed by many NGOs and individuals.

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A petition which was filed challenged the 103rd Constitutional amendment stating that it was against the Constitution’s basic structure as it does not allow for any economic criteria based on reservation.

An organization, Youth for Equality, also wanted the bill to be revoked as it violated the “equality code of the Constitution” as a reservation on economic grounds cannot be just for the general category.

As per the present amendments, exclusion of the SC/STs and OBCs from the economic reservation scope implies that only those who are poor from the general category are eligible to get the benefit of the quotas.

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The high creamy layer limit of Rs 8 lakh per annum ensures that the elite in the OBCs and SCs/STs reap the reservation benefits but the poor of these categories remain deprived. This is a violation of the basic feature of equality as per Article 14 of the Constitution and elsewhere.