SC scraps Jat reservation, says caste cannot be sole ground

The Supreme Court on Tuesday stated that caste cannot be the sole ground for reservation, while scrapping an earlier decision which grouped Jats among OBCs.

"The Supreme Court has quashed the Jat notification of the Jat reservation, which was issued by the previous government. The court also called for the laying down of new norms for identifying other backward classes and has asked the government to do away with a caste-centric definition," advocate for the petitioner, Om Veer Singh told the media.

"The court said that inclusion of politically organised castes like Jats in the OBC list is not good for other backward classes. The court has also said that backwardness has to be socially, economically and educationally," he added.

The UPA government had announced reservation for Jats in 2014 by including them in the OBC category on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections.

However, a group of petitioners claimed that Jats were 'politically and socially' advanced and that the decision to extend reservation to them was electorally motivated.