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The Supreme Court has decided to examine whether its judgment in the Indra Sawhney case of 1992 which fixed reservation for the marginalised and the poor in government jobs and educational institutions at 50% needs a relook.
Maratha quota law ·
The Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act of 2018 provided 16% reservation to Marathas. · It was given on the recommendation by the Gaikwad Commission. · The Bombay High Court had reduced the percentage of reservation for Marathas from the 16% to 12% in education and 13% in employment in 2019 and it had been challenged in the Supreme Court. · The Court will look into whether the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act of 2018 and taking the reservation percentage in the State across the 50% mark, was enacted under extraordinary circumstances. · In Indra Sawhney judgment, the 50% rule could be crossed in certain exceptional and extraordinary situations for bringing far-flung and remote areas population into the mainstream.
102nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 2018 ·
It introduced Articles 338-B and 342-A in the Constitution and constituted National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC). · It interferes with the authority of the State legislatures to provide benefit to the socially and educationally backward communities in their own jurisdiction · Article 338-B deals with the NCBC and Article 342-A empowers the President to specify the socially and educationally backward communities in a State. · It strips the State legislatures of their discretionary power to include their backward communities in the State List. · The Constitutional amendment empowers the Parliament to include a community in the Central List for socially and backward classes for grant of reservation benefits.
