In a landmark judgement, a day before Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit retired, the Supreme Court on Monday gave its verdict on the validity of the central law on 10 percent reservation benefits for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS). “The EWS quota law does not violate the basic structure or the code of equality to take into account the economic criterion,” Justice Dinesh Maheshwari said when the apex court upheld the law. “It also does not harm any essential function by exceeding the 50% cap for quotas as the cap itself is flexible,” he further added. The quota law was upheld by the court in a 3:2 verdict.
Justice Bela M Trivedi also upheld the law. A five-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice and comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, S Ravindra Bhat, Bela M Trivedi and JB Pardiwal – ruled on a cluster of legal issues surrounding the validity of the 103rd Amendment to the Constitution, which provides for the 10% reservation. for economically weaker sections. Articles 15(6) and 16(6) were introduced in the Constitution – with the 103rd Amendment Act – providing 10% reservation in jobs and admissions to EWS who were to be persons other than SCs, STs and OBCs and whose annual family income was below ₹8000.
Justice S Ravindra Bhat was among the dissenting judges, calling the law “discriminatory and violative of the basic structure”. Whether the 103rd Amendment to the Constitution can be said to violate the basic structure of the Constitution by enabling the State to make special provisions, including reservations, based on economic criteria or by enabling the State to make special provisions in relation to admissions to unaided private institutions was among legal issues. Among other objections was that the 103rd Amendment to the Constitution violates the 50% ceiling for reservation laid down in the 1992 Indra Sawhney, more commonly known as the Mandal Commission case. A nine-judge bench in the Indra Sawhney case held that “reservation should not exceed 50 per cent, except in certain extraordinary situations”.
