The central government has no plans to relax the 50% ceiling on reservations in jobs and admissions, Union minister Pratima Bhoumik told Parliament on Wednesday.
The minister of state for social justice and empowerment clarified the government’s stand on the matter in response to a question by Rajya Sabha MP Anbumani Ramadoss.
The Pattali Makkal Katchi party MP had asked if the government had any proposal to relax the 50% ceiling on the reservation in view of the observations made by the Supreme Court while upholding the 10% quota to persons from Economically Weaker Sections.
On November 7, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court had upheld the 10% EWS quota in a 3:2 judgement. Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, Bela Trivedi and JB Pardiwala upheld the quota, while former Chief Justice UU Lalit and Justice Rabindra Bhat dissented from the majority opinion.
In the majority judgement, Justice Maheshwari had held that the 50% ceiling in reservations was “not inflexible” and that breaching it would not violate the basic structure of the Constitution.
Citing this judgement, Ramadoss sought to know if the Centre was planning to relax the limit. He also asked if the central government had plans to increase the quota for the Other Backward Classes from the existing 27%, in proportion to the community’s population.
Union minister Bhoumik said that the Centre was not looking to introduce either of the provisions.
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