SC verdict on pleas challenging 10 pc EWS quota today

The Supreme Court on Monday will deliver the verdict on pleas challenging the validity of the 103rd Constitutional Amendment which provides 10 percent reservation to economically weaker sections (EWS) of society in admissions and government jobs.

The judgement will be pronounced by the bench led by Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit. Other judges include justices Dinesh Maheshwari, S. Ravindra Bhat, Bela M. Trivedi and J.B. Pardiwala. 

The court heard marathon arguments for seven days before reserving the case for judgment on September 27. 

According to the petitioners, the EWS quota inverted the concept of reservation as a tool of representation for the disadvantaged groups and converted it into a scheme for financial upliftment. 

Academician Mohan Gopal, who appeared for the petitioners, argued that since the EWS quota excluded socially and educationally backward classes and confined the benefits only to the 'forward classes,' it violated the principles of equality and social justice. This amounted to infringement of the basic structure of the Constitution. 

Sr. Adv. Meenakshi Arora also argued that the 103rd Amendment did not consist of any "guardrails" which otherwise existed for other forms of reservation. The petitioners also argued that the 103rd amendment violated the 50% ceiling limit.  

However, the government maintained that the 10% quota was not an addition to the 50% ceiling on reservation but an  "independent compartment."

Attorney General for India K.K. Venugopal, who appeared for the Union of India,  argued that the SCs and STs had been "loaded with benefits" by way of affirmative actions and thus didn't require additional benefits. He added that backward classes including the SCs, STs and OBCs each contained economically weaker sections within themselves. 

However, even forward sections consisted of economically weaker sections, which were grossly poor. Thus, he submitted that through the amendment, the State provided affirmative actions to such economically weaker sections which did not get benefits under the existing reservations.

The Centre had earlier told the Supreme Court that the quota was brought to promote social equality" by providing “equal opportunities in higher education and employment to those who have been excluded by virtue of their economic status".

The bill was cleared in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on January 8 and 9 in 2019, respectively.