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Informist, Monday, Jul 29, 2024

 

--SC refuses stay on raising quota in Bihar govt jobs, education

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court today refused to stay the Patna High Court's order that struck down the enhanced reservation of 65% in government jobs and educational institutions in the state. On Jun 20, the high court had held that raising the reservation beyond 50% was bad in law, based on the principles of equality in the Constitution.

 

The Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud today issued notice to Gaurav Kumar and other petitioners in the high court, listing the case for hearing in September. "We will list in September. No interim relief (at this stage)," the apex court said.  

 

The state government had said that the high court had transcended the legitimate scope of judicial review by substituting the "opinion of state" on the adequacy of representation with its own opinion. "The impugned judgement further failed to appreciate that it is trite law that the 50?iling is not an inviolable rule and may be breached in exceptional circumstances," the state government said.

 

The high court gravely erred in holding that the backward classes were adequately represented solely because the reserved communities together constituted 68.52% of the total government jobs, and observed that there was "no requirement for the enhancement of reservations", the state government said. The high court disregarded the collection of data in the caste survey and the state's analysis of its socioeconomic import solely because the methodology adopted was not the same as that adopted by the Mandal Commission. In 1979, the commission was formed with a mandate to "identify the socially or educationally backward classes" of India.

 

The high court was hearing a bunch of petitions against the Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) Amendment Act, 2023, and the Bihar Reservation (in Admission to Educational Institutions) Amendment Act, 2023. Based on a caste survey, the state government had last year brought about amendments to increase the reservation for Backward Classes, Extremely Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes in educational institutions and government jobs to 65% from 50%.

 

A bench of Chief Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice Harish Kumar had set aside the two laws "as ultra vires the Constitution and violative of the equality clause under Articles 14, 15 and 16". The high court noted a judgement by the Supreme Court's constitution bench in 1992, in which it was observed that combined reservation should not exceed the 50% limit except in exceptional circumstances.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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