Reservation Policy

Submitted by:-Mahipal Dan Charan

& Ankita Soni

Content i. Reservation and constitution of

India.ii. History of reservationiii. Types and underlying cases.iv. Reservation in promotion.v. Who are excluded from Reservation?vi. Reservation and present time : Birth

to Debate.

Glance at its main objective..

The main objective of the Indian reservation system is to increase the opportunities for enhance social and educational status of the underprivileged communities and ,thus, enable them to take their rightful place in the mainstream of Indian society.

What Is Reservation ? Reservations are political instruments that deliver a

public good which corrects a socio-economic wrong.

Reservation in India is the process of setting aside a certain percentage of seats (vacancies) in government institution for members of backward and under-represented communities (Defined primarily by caste and tribe).

Reservation is also termed as Affirmative action and fair discrimination.

In CONSTITUTION OF INDIA:- Article 16(4) is Nothing in this Article (16)

shall prevent the state from making any provision for reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class , which is not adequately represented in the services under the state.

Article 46 : to promote educational and economic interests of SC, ST and other weaker sections of society.

Article 14 : to provide equality before law and equal protection of laws.

Article 15(3) : enabling provision to provide for special provisions in case of women and children.

History Of Reservation1882• Hunter commission was appointed.•Mahatma Jyotirao Phule made a demand of free and compulsory education for Smrti along with proportionate representation in government jobs.

1902•Maharaja of Kolhapur , Chatrapati Sahuji Maharaj introduced reservation in favour of non-Brahmin and Backward classes.• First king in India – Implemented Reservation Policy.

1935• Indian national Congress passed resolution called Poona Pact to allocate separate electoral constituencies for depressed classes.• The Resolution confirmed the Abolition of Untouchability.

Types of Rervationse

1. Caste based In central government funded higher education

institutions, 22.5% of available seats are reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students (7.5% for STs and 15%for SCs).

This reservation percentage has been raised to 49.5% by Including an additional 27% Reservation for OBCs .

This ratio is followed even in Parliament and all elections where a few constituencies are earmarked for those from certain communities (which will next rotate in 2026 per the Delimitation Commision).

State of Madras Vs. Smt. Champakam Dorairanjan AIR 1951 SC 226

In this case court has pronounced that caste based reservation as per Communal Award Violates Article 15(1).

As Article 15(1) - The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion , race, caste ,sex, place of birth or any of them.

Then 1st constitutional amendment (Art. 15 (4)) introduced to make judgment invalid.

In 1979 – Mandal Commission was recognized to assess the situation of society and educationally backward.

M. R. BALAJI and Others vs. State of Mysore AI1963 SC 649

In this case court has put 50% cap on reservation .

Tamil Nadu (69%, under 9th schedule) and Rajasthan(68%) exceeded this limit.

In Northeast India , specially in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya ,Nagaland and Mizoram , reservation for ST in state Govt. jobs is 80%with only 20% unreserved.

Backwardness under Article 15(4) must be social and educational.

Today , out of 543 seats in India’s parliament , 84(15.47%) are reserved for SC/Dalits and 47 (8.66%) for ST/ Tribes.

1) Reservation of seats for scheduled Castes and scheduled Tribes in the house of people – Article 330.

2) Reservation of seats for scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assemblies of the states – Article 332

President ( in case of state – After consultation with the Governor) by public notification, castes, races, or tribes which shall for the constitution be deemed to be SC/ST – Article 341& 342.

The Supreme court of India in Indira Sawhney & Ors. Vs. UoI, upheld implementation of separate

reservation for OBC as to central government jobs are concerned. This ruling was

implemented.

Whether the use of caste to identify SEBCs runs afoul of the castless /classless society, in violation of secularism.

I compels me to conclude that use of caste is valid. It is said that if reservation in education is to stay, it should adhere to a basic tenet of secularism : it should not take caste into account. As long as caste is criterion, we will never achieve a casteless society . Exclusively economic criteria should be used. I urge the Government that for a period of ten years caste and other factors such as occupation/income/property holding or similar measures of economic power may be taken into consideration and thereafter only economic criteria should prevail. Otherwise we would not get able to achieve our constitutional goal of casteless and classless India.

Nehru on the floor of the lok sabha on 13.06.1951

After all the whole purpose of the constitution as proclaimed in the Directive principles is to move towards what I may say a casteless and classless society. (Lok Sabha Debates Vol. 12-13 (part 2) part 9830-31).25th November , 1949; in constituent Assembly , Bheemrao Ambedkar spoke Caste are anti- national.

Poor People should get their quota irrespective of caste.

Some important cases• In this case , it was held that Reservation of posts in favour of any

backward class of citizens cannot, therefore be regarded as unconstitutional.

Venkatramana Vs. State of madras , AIR 1962 SC 229

• Majority decision of supreme court held that power of reservation which is conferred on the State under Article 16(40 can be exercised by the state in a proper case not only by providing for reservation of appointments , but also by providing for reservation of selection posts.

General manager ,S. Rly Vs. Rangachari AIR 1962 Sc 36

• Hon’ble High Court held that while accepting the means cum caste test for classification of backward classes several factors have to be taken into consideration classification on the basis of the test of income was rejected.

Miss Laila Chacko Vs. State of Kerala, AIR 1967 Kerala 124

2.Gender Based In 1993, a constitutional amendment in India

called for a random one third of village council leader, or Pradhan , positions in Gram panchayat to be reserved for women.

The Women’s Reservation Bill was passed by the RAJYA SABHA on 9 March 2010 by a majority vote of 186 members in favour and 1 against. As of September 2015, the Lok Sabha has not voted on the bill.

In Gujarat, 33% of posts are reserved for females in all government departments and services, such as Police, Health , Education and general administration.

3. Religion Based Reservation has also been extended to

religious minorities. The Tamil Nadu government has allotted 3.5% of seats each to Muslims and Christians, thereby altering the OBC reservation 23% to 30% ( Since it excludes persons belonging to OBC who are either Muslims or Christians).

The Government of Andhra Pradesh introduced a law enabling 4% reservations for Muslims in 2004. ( This law was upheld by Supreme Court of India in an interim order on March 25, 2010.

Kerala Public Service Commission has a quota of 12% for Muslims.

The issue of whether religion-based quotas are permissible under the constitution is now before a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court.

The government of India on 22 December 2011 announced establishment of a sub-quota of 4.5% for minorities within the existing 27% reservation for OBC. However government would not have been able to announce this due to the modal code of conduct as elections were there on 24 December 2011.

Religious minority ( Muslim or Christian ) educational institutes also have 50% reservation for Muslim or Christians.

4. Status as a Domicile and Others With few exceptions , all jobs under certain State

governments are reserved for those who are domiciled within the jurisdiction of that government. Ex.- Punjab Engineering College (Chandigarh) 85%of seats were earlier reserved for Chandigarh-domiciles- now it is 50%.

There is also some seats reserved for the Jammu and Kashmir MIGRANTS in every Government- aided educational institute.

Other includes:- Terrorist victims of Kashmir e.g. Punjab. Single girl Child(in Punjab)

Son/Daughters /Grandsons of Freedom fighters Physically handicapped Sports personality Non-Resident of Indians Candidates sponsored by various organisation. Repatriates Those who have served in the armed

forces( ex-serviceman quota – because the age of superannuation in the military service is much shorter than that in the Civil posts; more so, certain intakes are tenure-based e.g.- contract for short service Commission is merely 8 years.

Reservation in special schools of Government Undertakings/PSUs, e.g. in JAWAHAR NVODYA SCHOOLS.

Reservation in PromotionIn State of Punjab Vs. Hiralal case it

was held that Reservation of appointments or posts under Article

16(4) included promotions.

In Indira Sawhney & Ors. Vs. UoI case : held that Reservations cannot

be applied in promotions.

In Ashok Kumar Gupta: Vidhyasagar Gupta Vs. State of Utter Pradesh : Held that right to promotion is a

statutory right. It is not a fundamental right.

The Supreme court of India, in its 16 November 1992 judgment in the Indra Sawhney case, ruled that reservations in promotions are unconstitutional, but allowed its continuation for 5 years as a special case . In 1995, 77th Amendment to the Constitution was made to insert clause (4A) to Article 16 before the five-year period expired to continue with reservations for SC/STs in promotions. Clause (4A) was further modified through the 85th amendment to give the benefit of consequential seniority to SC/ST candidates promoted by reservation.

The 81st amendment was made to the Constitution that inserted clause (4B) in Article 16 to permit the government to treat the backlog of reserved vacancies as a separate and distinct group, to which the limit of 50 percent ceiling on reservation may not apply. 

 The 82nd amendment inserted a provision in Article 335 to enable states to give concessions to SC/ST candidates in promotion.The validity of all the above four amendments i.e. 77th, 81st, 82nd and 85th was challenged in the Supreme Court through various petitions clubbed together in M Nagaraj & Others vs. Union of India & Others, mainly on the ground that these altered the Basic Structure of the Constitution. On 19 October 2006, the Supreme Court upheld these four amendments but stipulated that the concerned state will have to show, in each case, the existence of compelling reasons which include backwardness, inadequacy of representation and overall administrative efficiency, before making provisions for reservation. The court further held that these provisions are merely enabling provisions. If a state government wishes to make provisions for reservation to SC/STs in promotion, the state has to collect quantifiable data showing backwardness of the class and inadequacy of representation of that class.

Excluded from reservation :-

Constitutional posts : The sons and daughters of the President of India, the Vice-President of India, Judges of the Supreme Court, the High Courts chairman, the members of Union Public Service Commission, members of the State Public Service Commission, Chief Election Commissioner, Comptroller Auditor-General of India or any person holding positions of a constitutional nature.

Service Category : Those who have parent(s) that are Class I or Class II officers, or both parents are Class I or Class II officers but one of them dies or suffers permanent incapacitation . The criteria used for sons and daughters of Group A and B are the same for the employees of the Public sector.

The sons and daughters of parents either or both of whom is or are in the rank of colonel and above in the army or in equivalent posts in the Navy, the Air Force, and the Paramilitary Force. But that will hold true provided that-"the wife of an armed forces is herself in the armed forces (i.e., the category under consideration) the rule of exclusion will apply only when she herself has reached the rank of Colonel.“"the service ranks below Colonel of husband and wife shall not be clubbed together"

"if the wife of an officer in the armed forces is in civil employment, this will not be taken into account for applying the rule of exclusion unless she falls in the service category under item No. II in which case the criteria and conditions.

Professional class and those engaged in trade and industry.

Also those , whobelongs to creamy layer.

I. R. Coelho (Dead) by LRS. Vs. State of T. N. 2007 (2)

Tamil Nadu reservations put under 9th Schedule of the constitution.

Then Supreme court advised Tamil Nadu to follow 50% limit.

This step was like destroying or damaging the basic structure as indicated in Article 21 read with 14, article 13 and the

principle underlying there under. So , it was led to review. Its decision have huge value.

Some important Amendments93rd

Amendment82nd

Amendment85th

Amendment

• It introduced Art 15(5)• It ruled that

reservations can be enforced on Private Unaided educational institutions.• held that relaxation of qualifying marks and standard of evaluation in matters of reservation in promotion is permissible • Consequential Seniority

was inserted in Art 16 (4)(A• For SC/ST , in public

employment

Does the 93rd Amendment violate the Basic Structure of the constitution by imposing reservation on unaided institution ?Yes , it does. Imposing reservation on unaided institutions

violates the Basic Structure by stripping citizens of their fundamental right under Article 19(1) (g0 to carry on an occupation. The establishment and running of an educational institution falls under the right to an occupation. The right to select students on the basis of merit is an essential feature of the right to establish and run an unaided institution. Reservation is an unreasonable restriction that infringes this right by destroying the autonomy and essence of an unaided institution. The effect of the 93rd Amendment is such that Article 19 is abrogated, leaving the Basic Structure altered. To restore the Basic Structure, I sever the 93rd Amendment’s reference to unaided institution.

The Current SituationPeople are arguing that Reservation is no longer

Relevant. Arguing for reservation Based on economical condition. Without access to education , the poor will always be

poor. Reservation system based on a social net contradicts

itself. Government should not play Robin Hood.

Why people are against Present Reservation Policy ? What Reservation has done ? Poor, in an Indian context implies absolute

poverty. By international standards, it is $1.25 a day and 32% of Indian population in poor according to that definition.

This is the distribution of poor people by Caste ,accounting for split between rural and urban population.

After almost 3.3751 decades of its implementation it has not changed anything Drastically. It is to be noted that upper caste account for 36% of poor people and backward classes account for 16%.This 36% of upper people do not benefit from any of these WELFARE SCHEME when it is based on caste.Yet, it has not achieved any of its objective properly.It is consider to be unfair to people competing in general quota and poor people.It has not improved dropout rate, income share of poor people.

It has not performed well in terms of quality of education.(India ranks 72nd in world by PISA scale).Not so lucky should not be decided on the base of caste. Even on historical facts , that too, that were many many years ago. Reservation is acting like spoon feeder. Taking people away from enduring the real hard work.Can the benefitted really perform that well in the institute that they take? ( Doesn’t it reduce the institute’s standrad and prestige)

Some Negative points of Reservation

Produces Jealousy and antipathy between caste and caste.

Evident in Southern India , The members of royal families also gets benefitted of it. (Do they really need it).

According to National Employability report, only 18% engineers are up to the standard to the designated post. Why reservation , when entrance are merit based?

Arguments advocating need of reservation.

o People born in upper cast family have a privilege or unearned advantage , special right or socio-economic status.

o The Practical study done by THORAT ET AT related to employment in private sector highlights the value and role of socio-economic status.

o Who says that reservation is not paying back ? A recent Report of UN shows that poverty improvement rate of India is equivalent to that of USA.

What if we end Reservation Right now !

While Manual scavenging for many may have ended as a form of employment, the stigma and discrimination associated with it lingers on, making it difficult for former or liberated manual scavengers to secure alternate livelihood and raising the fear that people could once again return to manual scavenging in the absence of other oppertunities to support their families.

Then what to do ? yes, we all today have need of reservation.

Because there are many people, who use live in village and are backward. Many of them are like based firmly on reservation for their existence.

So we simply cannot take it way ! At least not today. Reservation , therefore is the inevitable political consequence of correcting the inequality of opportunity and many more.

What we need to do. The thing we need to do is only to rise over

selfishness. To view this policy with broader perspective; i. e. Reservation is good.

This is not a issue to ignore away. We all are getting influenced to it and this is going to be true in future.

Seriously we need a lot of things done over it. Also needs to avoidmovements like that of Gurger and Patel.

For Having So Much Patience !

Thanks A Lot To You !