Supreme Court reserves ruling on sub-classification of SCs, STs for reservations
The Supreme Court has reserved its judgment on whether a state government can create sub-classifications within Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to provide reservations for admissions and public jobs.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its judgment on the legal question of whether a state government can create sub-classifications within Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to provide reservations for admissions and public jobs.
Highlights of the hearing
Attorney General R Venkataramani, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, senior advocate Kapil Sibal and states represented by senior lawyers presented their cases before a seven-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud in an attempt to review the 2004 judgment in EV Chinnaiah. believed that all SC communities – which had been victims of discrimination, exclusion and humiliation for centuries – represented a homogeneous class that could not be subdivided.
There are 23 petitions being heard by the court, which also includes Justices BR Gavai, Vikram Nath, Bela M. Trivedi, Pankaj Mithal, Manoj Misra and Satish Chandra Mishra. The main case was filed by the Punjab government seeking to overturn the 2010 judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Statements from previous cases
In the 2004 case of EV Chinnaiah versus State of Andhra Pradesh, a five-judge Constitution Bench held that SCs and STs are homogeneous groups and states cannot further subdivide them to provide quota within quota to more disadvantaged and weaker castes within the group. these groups. The Supreme Court is currently considering referrals to review this ruling.
EV Chinnaiah's judgment stated that any sub-classification of the Scheduled Castes would violate Article 14 – right to equality – of the Constitution of India. The 2004 judgment also stated that only Parliament, and not any state legislature, can exclude castes deemed SC from the presidential list under Article 341 of the Constitution.
(With input from agencies)