New Delhi: On Thursday, the Supreme Court in India cleared the air that it is up to the states to decide on the kind of sub-classifications in SC or ST categories. This was in clear violation of the EV Chinnaiah vs State of Andhra Pradesh 2004 case in which a five-judge bench had declared that sub-classification of socially and educationally backward classes within SCs and STs was unlawful as they believed that the said classes were similar to one unified group.
The current judgment by the Supreme Court that has been given by a seven-judge constitution bench presided over by the chief justice, D.Y. Chandrachud, was arrived at a 6:1 majority. The sitting bench comprised B.R. Gavai, Vikram Nath, Bela M. Trivedi, Pankaj Mithal, Manoj Misra and Satish Chandra Sharma, who gave six different opinionated judgements. The judgement paved the way for further fragmentation of SCs and STs with the purpose of treating their inequity and covering more backward sub-sectors within these categories through a quota system.
The bench looked at the constitutional competence of Section 4(5) of the Punjab Act, which cruises on the question of whether states can create sub-classifications based on SCs and STs or whether they are to be treated as homogeneous categories. The exclusion of the test is precisely decisive in order that the preferential treatment can be awarded to the most disadvantageous portion of the SC and ST populations.
The court was engaged on the question of whether the socially and educationally backward classes children of SC/STs should be allowed to continue to be given reservation benefits. It also raised the issue of the homogeneity within these groups and whether it is warranted to offer extra reservations to the most needy ones.
The Union government was in agreement with the sub-classifications, stating that this way, requirements for affirmative action must be made more stringent to positively impact the lower strata of these categorized groups. The court noted that while the objective of reservation was to help SC/ST get economically forward, members of the communities benefitted from the elite moving up and joining the upper castes.
Check here for the latest updates in Hindi!