A seven-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on August 1 reframed how the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) quota may operate — for the very first time since reservations were introduced in the Constitution in 1950.
Key points
- In a 6:1 verdict, the Bench led by the CJI permitted states to create sub-classifications within the SC and ST categories for the purpose of according wider protections — through fixed sub-quotas — to the most backward communities within these categories.
- Four of the seven judges on the Bench separately said the government should extend the “creamy layer principle” to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, like in the case of Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.
- Chief Justice Chandrachud referred to how a nine-judge Bench in the Indra Sawhney case had held it constitutional to classify the backward class into the ‘backward’ and the ‘more backward’ class of citizens. The same principle would apply to Scheduled Castes.
- Article 341 of the Constitution allows the President, through a public notification, to list as SC “castes, races or tribes” that suffered from the historical injustice of untouchability.
- SC groups are jointly accorded 15% reservation in education and public employment.
- Article 341(2) states that only Parliament can include or exclude “any caste, race or tribe” from the list of SCs.
- Articles 15(4) of the Constitution gives states the power to make “any special provision” for the advancement of SCs.
- Article 16(4) gives states the specific power to provide “reservations of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which…is not adequately represented in the services of the State.”
