SC issues notice to Patna HC verdict quashing 65% reservation in response to RJD’s plea
- In Reports
- 06:54 PM, Sep 06, 2024
- Myind Staff
The Supreme Court, on Friday, issued a notice in response to a petition filed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) challenging a Patna High Court ruling. The High court had struck down the amended reservation laws in Bihar, which had raised quotas for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in educational institutions and government jobs, increasing the overall reservation from 50% to 65%.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India, Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, has sought responses from the state government, the central government, and the petitioners involved in the case before the Patna High Court. The Supreme Court also tagged this petition with a separate appeal filed by the Bihar government challenging the same judgment.
“Issue notice and tag with the pending pleas,” stated the bench, also comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
Senior counsel P Wilson represented the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in the case, with the petition being filed by RJD through its Rajya Sabha MP, Manoj Kumar Jha.
During the brief hearing, senior counsel P Wilson argued that the enhancement of reservations beyond the 50% limit was permissible under certain circumstances, as established by the Supreme Court in its 2022 judgment on the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) reservation case. He also cited the 2022 Neil Aurelio Nunes case, where the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of OBC reservations in All India Quota seats for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses. Wilson contended that the rationale of this judgment should be extended to benefit marginalised communities in Bihar.
On June 20, the Patna High Court invalidated the 65% reservation for SC/STs, EBCs, and OBCs in Bihar. The court emphasised that “merit cannot be completely effaced and sacrificed at the altar of reparations.”
The ruling had significant legal and political implications, particularly in light of the contentious caste survey that led the Bihar government to increase quotas last year. The High Court observed that backward communities were already sufficiently represented in public employment within the state. Additionally, the court criticised the state government for not conducting a thorough study or analysis before deciding to raise the reservation percentage.
The High Court ruled that increasing the quota beyond the 50% limit established by the Supreme Court’s nine-judge bench in the 1992 Indra Sawhney case was “bad in law” and contrary to constitutional principles of equality. The court found that the state failed to provide any extenuating circumstances justifying a breach of the 50% cap.
The state appealed against this judgment, arguing that the caste survey conducted met the social test criteria necessary to justify exceeding the 50% reservation ceiling. The appeal also asserted that the state laws aimed to ensure proportional representation by increasing reservations to 65% from the existing 50%, with the objective of providing “adequate representation” to backward classes.
Image source: ANI
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