Reservation Demand
SC notice to Bihar govt on RJD plea vs HC order on higher reservation
This story was originally published at 14:10 IST on 6 September 2024
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NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court today issued a notice to the Bihar government and other parties on the Rashtriya Janata Dal's plea against a Patna High Court order that struck down the enhanced reservation of 65% in government jobs and educational institutions in the state. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud tagged the RJD's petition with an appeal already pending by the Bihar government against the high court's order.
The RJD was not a party before the high court in the case.
On Jul 20, the apex court had refused to stay the high court's order, and then 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 had said.
On Jun 20, the high court held that raising the reservation beyond 50% was bad in law, based on the principles of equality in the Constitution. The state government had moved the top court and said 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 had said.
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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