Supreme Court approves separate quota for marginalised among SC/ST

 

Supreme Court approves separate quota for marginalised among SC/ST

The landmark judgement was delivered by a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud with a majority of 6:1, with Justice Bela Trivedi dissenting.

A seven-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court today approved sub-classification within the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories to provide jobs and education to the more marginalised among the lower strata of the population.

The landmark judgement was delivered by a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud with a majority of 6:1, with Justice Bela Trivedi dissenting. Six separate judgements were written. The verdict overturns the verdict of a five-judge Constitution Bench in the 2004 case of EV Chinnaiah v. State of Andhra Pradesh. The other judges on the panel were Justice BR Gavai, Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Pankaj Mittal, Justice Manoj Misra and Justice Satish Chandra Mishra.

During the hearing, the Central government told the Court that it was in favour of sub-classification into Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The Chief Justice noted that there is a difference between "back classification" and "sub-category" and was of the view that to ensure benefits reach the more disadvantaged, states may need to sub-classify communities into reserved categories.

There are six views. Mine are those of Justice Manoj Misra and myself. Our majority, setting aside the judgment in EV Chinnaiah, are of the opinion that sub-classification is permissible. Justice Bela Trivedi disagreed," he said this morning.

"Members of the SC/ST category are often unable to climb the career ladder as they face systematic discrimination. Article 14 recognises sub-categorisation of castes," the Chief Justice said, adding, "historical evidence shows that the downtrodden classes were not homogenous classes." BR Ambedkar had said in 1949 that political democracy without social democracy is meaningless.

"The hardships and backwardness suffered by a section of the Scheduled Castes vary from caste to caste. The EV Chinnaiah case was a miscarriage of justice. It is argued that political parties can give reservations to sub-castes to gain political advantage, but I do not agree with this. "The ultimate goal is to achieve true equality," he said.