However, Doesn’t Hold implementation Quota
The validity of 10% quota for economically weak to be examined by the Supreme Court
Judges will hear a batch of petitions challenging the decision
PM Modi calls the quota a big step towards social justice
Agencies / NEW DELHI
The Supreme Court has decided to examine the Centre’s decision to grant 10 per cent reservation to economically weaker sections of general category.
The court, however, did not stay the operation of the Centre’s decision to grant reservation. A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued a notice to the central government on various petitions challenging the validity of the Constitutional Amendment Act granting reservation to poor belonging to general category.
The centre has to get back to the Supreme Court within four weeks.
The court’s decision means the quota is unlikely to be either scrapped or kept on hold before the national election due by May.
The centre has to get back to the Supreme Court within four weeks on the move that was introduced as a constitutional amendment, passed in parliament and enacted in a matter of days.
The judges including Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi will hear a batch of petitions challenging the decision, which takes the total quotas beyond the 50 per cent cap set by the Supreme Court. Under the new law, those who earn less than Rs. 8 lakh a year and have less than five acre land qualify for the quota.
The petitions say the top court’s Mandal Commission verdict in 1992 had “specifically stated that the economic criteria cannot be the sole basis for reservation under the Constitution.”
They also argue that in 2006, the court said quota cannot exceed 50 per cent, so the new 10 per cent quota is “unconstitutional and should be struck down”.