‘More reservation for selected castes of ST-SC’- Supreme Court

New Delhi| The Supreme Court has given a big decision regarding reservation and has overturned the decision of 5 judges given in the E. V. Chinnaiya case in 2004. In that decision given in 2004, the Supreme Court had said that sub category cannot be created in SC/ST tribes. Now a 7-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court has ruled by majority that the state government can create all those categories among the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, (categories which will get the benefit of more reservation).

According to the Indian Constitution, the population of the country is basically divided into four classes (General, Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes) on the basis of different castes. Now after the decision of the Supreme Court, many classes can be created within Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes also. In such a situation, state governments will be able to give the benefit of more reservation to any one section falling under Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe.

A seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court ruled by a 6-1 majority. Apart from Justice Bela Trivedi, six other judges held that there is nothing in Articles 15, 16, which prevents the state from subcategorizing a caste. The Supreme Court bench said that the basis of sub-categorization should be based on the correct data of the state, in this case the state cannot act on its own will.