RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Nov 7: Jharkhand Congress President Rajesh Thakur on Monday welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision upholding 10 per cent Economically Weaker Section (EWS) reservation saying “poverty has nothing to do with caste and he has always been in support of reservation to economically weaker sections of the general category.”
Meanwhile, JMM, the ruling party of Jharkhand, expressed its inability to comment on the issue.
“I will have to go through the judgment before giving any comment on the matter as it is difficult to comment on apex order without understanding the factual position of the matter,” said Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Maji. Senior JMM leader Supriyo Bhattacharya echoed Maji.
The spokesperson of the Jharkhand unit of RJD Manoj Kumar also echoed Maji.
Notably, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Monday upheld the validity of the Constitution’s 103rd Amendment Act 2019, which provides for the 10 per cent Economically Weaker Section (EWS) reservation amongst the general category.
Three out of five judges delivered verdicts in favour of the EWS quota, saying it did not violate the law.
It is noteworthy that in the EWS quota, the general category has got 10 per cent reservation on an economic basis. This decision was challenged. The top court had refused to stay the reservation. The judgment came on the last working day of Chief Justice UU Lalit.
The 103rd Amendment of 2019 inserted Articles 15(6) and 16(6) in the Constitution to provide 10 per cent reservation to EWS other than backward classes, SCs, and STs in higher educational institutions and initial recruitment in government jobs. The rationale was that the amendment could empower state governments to provide reservations on the basis of economic backwardness – determined by criteria such as land size owned, annual income, etc.
The EWS reservation was granted based on the recommendations of a commission headed by Major General (retd) S R Sinho. The commission, which was constituted by the UPA government in March 2005, submitted its report in July 2010.
The Sinho Commission recommended that all below-poverty-line (BPL) families within the general category as notified from time to time, and also all families whose annual family income from all sources is below the taxable limit, should be identified as EBCs (economically backward classes).
Calling the amendment “an attack on the constitutional vision of social justice” and “a fraud on the Constitution”, those petitioning against it contend that if upheld, it will be the end of equality of opportunity. They also argued that it violates the basic structure of the Constitution and breaches the 50 per cent ceiling for reservation fixed by the Supreme Court ruling in the Mandal Commission case.
