Khushi Doshi
Published on: April 1, 2022 at 16:51 IST
A Supreme Court Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai affirmed a Madras high Court ruling that ruled the Law “Unconstitutional and Unlawful.”
“In the absence of any exercise or findings demonstrating that members of the Vanniakula Kshatriya community are unable to compete with the remaining Communities within the Most Backward Classes (MBC) and Denotified Communities (DNC), providing internal reservation of 10.5 percent from the 20 percent made available to Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities would undoubtedly be to the detriment of other Communities.
There is no data or material referred to in Justice Thanikachalam’s letter on the representation of the remaining communities within the Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities in Educational Institutions or Public Employment that could support the severe restriction in the extent of Reservation made available to these Communities, who had been entitled to the Benefit of 20 percent Reservation prior to the Enactment of the 20 percent Reservation “”Act One.” stated the Bench
The Bench made reference to the Supreme Court’s decision in the Indra Sawhney Case.
‘It is evident from the preceding that Caste can be used to provide Quota, but it cannot be the Main basis there is no Constitutional or Legal Prohibition against a State classifying Backward Classes as Backward and More Backward. In the present Case, sub-classification for the purpose of providing internal Reservation to a specific Community, namely, the Vanniakula Kshatriyas, will be Governed by the same principle, namely, while caste can be the starting point for providing Internal Reservation, it is incumbent on the State Government to justify the reasonableness of the sub-classification and demonstrate that caste has not been the only basis.”
The Court highlighted that the suggestion to give Internal Reservation was based on 1985 data and stated that any decision to provide Reservation that might affect the Rights of Members of up to 115 Communities should be based on current inputs rather than old and outmoded Data.