In 3:2 verdict SC upholds Modi Govt’s 10 per cent reservation to EWS

     Raipur, November 07, 2022: The Supreme Court in a majority verdict today upheld the 10 per cent reservation to economically weaker sections in government jobs and admissions, which was introduced by the Modi government in 2019.

     Treating EWS as a separate category is a reasonable classification and the 50 per cent ceiling on the total reservation under the Mandal judgment is not inflexible, the judges said while dismissing petitions challenging the validity of the law.

      The Constitution bench gave a 3:2 majority decision in favour of the 103rd Constitution Amendment saying the use of basic structure doctrine as a sword to stultify the State’s effort to do economic justice cannot be countenanced.

     While justices Dinesh Maheshwari, Bela M Trivedi and J B Pardiwala upheld the law, Justice S Ravindra Bhat along with Chief Justice U U Lalit shot down the same in their minority view.

      Observing that exclusion of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes  is to heap injustice on them, Justice Bhat, who authored a 100-page verdict for himself and Chief Justice Lalit, said the 103rd Constitution amendment undermines the fabric of social justice.

     Meanwhile, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has welcomed the Supreme Court’s majority verdict upholding 10 per cent reservation to EWS saying it was an amendment that was unanimously passed by Parliament, which has been upheld by the Supreme Court, quoting Kharge media reports said.