SC declines stay on Centre's 10% reservation scheme to general category

The Supreme Court on Friday declined a stay on the implementation of the constitutional amendment providing 10 per cent reservation in jobs and education to the economically weaker sections of the general category.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi tagged the plea filed by activist Tehseen Poonawala challenging the amendment along with similar petitions pending before it. The apex court bench issued notice to the Centre seeking a reply in the matter.

The petitioner has challenged the 103rd constitutional amendment saying it was against the basic structure of Constitution, which does not allow any reservation based on economic criteria.

He has said that the 50 per cent ceiling limit cannot be breached.

Several pleas of the same issue have been filed against the amendment.

A petition by Youth for Equality has also sought the quashing of the amendment, stating that it violated the "equality code of the Constitution" as reservation on economic grounds cannot be restricted to general category.

By way of the amendment, the exclusion of the OBCs and the SCs/STs from the scope of the economic reservation essentially implied that only those who are poor from the general categories would avail the benefits of the quotas, the organisation has contended.

"Taken together with the fact that the high creamy layer limit of Rs 8 lakh per annum ensures that the elite in the OBCs and SCs/STs capture the reservation benefits repeatedly and the poor sections of these categories remain completely deprived. This is an overwhelming violation of the basic feature of equality enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution and elsewhere," the petition has said.

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