In a petition contesting the Constitution(103rd) Amendment Act, which permits reservation for members of economically weaker sections in higher education and public employment up to a maximum of 10%, the Supreme Court bench of former Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued notice.
An NGO called "Youth For Equality" submitted the case, claiming that the amendment contradicts the Constitution's "fundamental structure." The petition asserts that reservations cannot be granted on the basis of economic reasons and made reference to the Supreme Court's nine-judge bench decision in the Indira Sawhney case (1992).
Additionally, it claimed that the amendment violates the 50% threshold set by the Supreme Court in the Indira Sawhney case since it allows for the provision of a quota of up to 10% to economically disadvantaged groups in addition to the existing reservations.
The amendment's restriction on the benefit of the reservation based on economic backwardness to only candidates in the general category is the other basis of contention. The petition goes on to say that the amendment is also unjustifiable because it enforces reservation in privately funded educational institutions, which is against SC rulings in the TMA Pai and PA Inamdar judgments.
It was proposed that clause (6) be added to Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution in order to provide for economic reservation in employment and education.
The proposed Article 15(6) permits the State to establish specific arrangements for the progress of any economically poorer segment of the population, including reservations in educational institutions. Any educational institution, including private institutions, whether aided or unaided, is allowed to make this reservation, with the exception of minority educational institutions protected by Article 30 (1). Additionally, it indicates that ten percent will be the maximum reservation threshold, on top of any current limit on the same.
Regarding reserved positions in jobs, the proposed Article 16(6) gives the State the ability to add appointment reservations to the already-existing reservations, up to a maximum of 10%. Currently, reservations make up 49.5% of the population, with quotas for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes of 15%, 7.5%, and 27%, respectively.
For the purposes of Articles 15 and 16, "economically weaker section" refers to those individuals that the State has periodically identified as being economically disadvantaged based on family income and other factors. This will be a separate class from the previously mentioned SC, ST, and socially and educationally disadvantaged classes.