NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will pronounce its orders on Monday in the matter relating to the Constitutional validity of reservation for the economically weaker section (EWS) in higher education and issues of public employment on the basis of financial condition.
In September last week, the Constitution bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, S Ravindra Bhat, Bela M Trivedi and J B Pardiwala, has reserved the order after all the parties concluded their arguments. The Constitution Bench was dealing with issues relating to the Constitutional validity of reservations on the basis of economic condition. The court began hearing the matter on September 13 for seven days.
The petitioners had submitted before the Supreme Court that providing reservation on the basis of economic criteria, excluding SC, ST and OBC non-creamy layer, breaches the equality code. The Centre has earlier submitted before the Supreme Court that EWS reservation does not violate the basic structure.
Then Attorney General for India K K Venugopal submitted before the Supreme Court that the reservation for economically weaker sections (EWS) does not violate the basic structure doctrine. He further argued that nothing has been altered for SC, ST, and OBC, but qualitatively, the purpose of the EWS quota was not to touch the 50 per cent reservation. This 10 per cent is in a different compartment, he submitted.
The AG was defending the Constitution’s 103rd amendment that provided for the EWS reservation. Venugopal also submitted an affirmative action amendment for the weaker sections of society. The EWS reservation does not erode rights given to SC, ST and OBC, he argued.
The constitutional validity of the 103rd Amendment Act, 2019 enables the state to make reservations in higher education and matters of public employment on the basis of economic criteria alone. The Janhit Abhiyan petition is the lead matter.
Janhit Abhiyan’s matter relates to the challenging Constitutional validity of the 103rd Amendment Act, 2019, which enables the state to make reservations in higher education and matters of public employment on the basis of economic criteria alone.
Moreover, the Janhit matter is being heard together with a case filed by the Andhra Pradesh government against the High Court’s decision quashing its decision of granting reservations in education and public service for the entire Muslim population of the state in 2005. (ANI)