The Supreme Court on Monday said that states must do more to uplift socially and economically backward classes because affirmative action is not limited to reservation, Bar and Bench reported.
A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, L Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer, Hemant Gupta and S Ravindra Bhat made the observation while hearing petitions challenging the validity of the Maratha quota. The petitioners have argued that the provision for 12% reservation for Marathas in jobs and 13% in admissions would breach the ceiling of 50% quota limit imposed by the Supreme Court in a landmark verdict in 1992.
“Why stop at reservation, why can’t other things also be done,” the court asked. “Why not promote education and establish more institutes? Somewhere this matrix has to move beyond reservation. Affirmative action is not just reservation. There has to be something more.” The court added that limited number of seats or institutions may also be responsible for the lack of access to resources.
The judges were responding to senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was representing the Jharkhand government, according to PTI. Sibal had argued that a common 50% cap on reservations across the country does not take into account that the percentage of backward people differs in each state.
“Some states have very less backward population while some states have very high backward population,” Sibal said, according to Bar and Bench. “India is not a uniform territory. Even within a state, there are full of diversities. Concept of equality will differ from one state to another.” While Sibal agreed that more needed to be done to uplift backwards communities, he said it was something that the central and state governments must consider.
The court will continue hearing the matter on Tuesday since the arguments remained inconclusive.
In the previous hearing on Friday, the Supreme Court sought to know for how long the system of reservations in the education and jobs sector will continue.
On March 8, the Supreme Court had issued a notice to all states, seeking their response on whether reservation could be allowed beyond the 50% ceiling. Senior lawyers Mukul Rohatgi, Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the court that the matter concerned all the states, as the court’s verdict could have an impact on their authority to provide reservation.
On September 9, the Supreme Court had stayed reservations in educational institutions and government jobs provided to the Maratha community under the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act, 2018. The Maratha community roughly forms one-third of the state population.
The three judge-bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao referred the matter to Chief Justice SA Bobde to constitute a larger bench and examine the validity of such a quota. The court, however, clarified that admissions already made under the Maratha quota in postgraduate medical courses will not be affected. It added that the status of those who have availed of the benefits will also not be disturbed.
In 2018, the then Devendra Fadnavis-led government in Maharashtra had approved 16% reservation for the Marathas in jobs and education after statewide protests. However, the Bombay High Court, while upholding the constitutional validity of the law, stated that 16% reservation was not justifiable. It directed the state government to reduce the quota to 12%-13% as per the recommendations of the State Backward Classes Commission. The court also maintained that 50% cap on total reservations imposed by the Supreme Court could be exceeded in exceptional circumstances.
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