A panel of five judges of UU Supreme Court President Lalit and Judges Dinesh Maheshwari, S Ravindra Bhat, Bela M Trivedi and JB Pardiwala approved the amendment by a majority (3: 2), which would bring the total reserve to 59.50 % in central institutions.
Explanation: what is the 10% EWS share that the Supreme Court has claimed for the “economically weaker Sections”
However, all judges agreed that the reservation on the basis of the economic condition was justified in the light of the constitutional amendment, while also approving the quantum of the quota exceeding the 50% ceiling that the CS had set in the Indra Sawhney case. In their dissenting verdict, CJI Lalit and Judge Bhat rejected the amendment that deemed the exclusion of SC, ST and OBC from the sphere of economic backwardness “discriminatory and arbitrary”.
The ruling expands the grounds for affirmative action beyond social and educational backwardness to include economic backwardness, also paving the way for further attempts by governments to provide more than a 50% share in government jobs and institutions. educational for reasons of social and educational backwardness, as well as economic deprivation.
