Supreme Court: States May Divide SCs and STs to Meet Quotas in Jobs, Education

The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, by a majority vote, that states have the authority to differentiate between Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in order to provide reserved category quotas that will benefit the more disadvantaged castes. The Chief Justice DY Chandrachud-led seven-judge constitution bench ruled, 6 to 1, that states may continue to reclassify SCs and STs in order to guarantee the allocation of quotas to more historically underrepresented castes within these groupings.

Six judgments were rendered by the bench individually. The majority decision declared that “quantifiable and demonstrable data by the states, which cannot act on its whims” must be used to justify the sub classification foundation. The Punjab government submitted the main case, which was filed in opposition to a 2010 Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling, and the bench, which also included justices BR Gaval, Vikram Nath, Bela M. Trivedi, Pankaj Mithal, Manoj Misra, and Satish Chandra Mishra, was hearing 23 applications. Both Justice Misra and the CJI signed the letter. Justice Trivedi dissented from the four judges’ concurring opinions.

The Supreme Court invalidated the 2004 verdict of a five-judge panel in the EV Chinnatah case, stating that systemic discrimination against SC and ST members frequently prevents them from moving up the social ladder. States must identify and remove the creamy layer from SCs and STs, according to a separate ruling by Justice Gaval. Judge Trivedi wrote a dissenting opinion in which he stated that states cannot alter the scheduled caste list that is announced under Article 341 of the Constitution and that state affirmative action policies must adhere to the limits of the constitution. Using its authority under Article 142, she stated the Supreme Court could not legitimate the state’s reservation policy, no matter how well-intentioned.

The verdict on appeals seeking a review of the 2004 EV Chinnalah ruling, which held that all schedule caste communities—which endured centuries of discrimination, ostracism, and humiliation—represented a homogeneous class that could not be subdivided, was reserved by the top court for 8th February. The decision was made in response to requests to review the 2004 five-judge constitution bench ruling. In the case of EV Chinnatah v. State of Andhra Pradesh, it was decided that as SCs and STs are homogenous groups, states are not allowed to further subclassify them in order to provide quota inside quota for the weaker and more disadvantaged castes within these groups.