10% quota bill for EWS is yet a flaming issue; SC Refuses to stay implementation

New Delhi, January 25: The Supreme Court on Friday has issued notice to Centre on pleas challenging the constitutional amendment that gives 10 per cent reservation in jobs and education for economically weaker section of the general category. The Supreme Court bench of CJI Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna further declined the interim stay of the amendment.

 

 

“We are examining the matter,” said the Supreme Court bench refusing to pass orders to the effect. This comes after a couple of states including Gujarat, UP and in nation approved and are on the verge of implementing the same to full. 

 

The plea filed by NGO 'Youth for Equality', challenges the Constitution (124th Amendment) Bill, 2019. The plea seeks the cancelling of the bill saying that backwardness for the purpose of reservation cannot be defined by economic status alone.

 

Referring to the nine judges bench decision of the Supreme Court in Indira Sawhney case(1992), the plea states that reservation cannot be given on the basis of economic criteria. "The above Constitution Amendment completely violates the Constitutional norm that economic criterion cannot be the only basis of reservation as has been laid down by the 9 judges in Indira Sawhney, without removing the basis of the judgement", it said.

 

It further states that the amendment, which makes room for providing quota up to 10% to economically weaker sections in addition to the existing reservations, breaches the 50% cap set by Supreme Court in the Indira Sawhney case. The other ground of challenge is that the amendment confines the benefit of economic reservation only to general category candidates.

 

However, economically weaker sections mean such sections as notified by the State from time to time on the basis of family income and other indicators of economic disadvantage. This will be a class distinct from the already specified classes of SCs, STs and socially and educationally backward classes, reported the statement.