Supreme Court refuses to stay implementation of EWS quota, promises to examine it in four weeks
The Supreme Court of India.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on Friday, has refused to stay the implementation of 10 per cent reservation of “economically weaker section” of general category citizens in educational institutes and government jobs. However, the apex court has promised that the bench will examine the issue and will be hearing the matter in four weeks.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Rajan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna said, “We are examining the matter and hence issuing notice returnable within four weeks.”
Several petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the amendment, the Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019, after Parliament passed the 124th Constitutional Amendment Bill. An NGO (non-governmental organization) called Youth For Equality and political activist Tehseen Poonawalla have filed petitions arguing that economic status alone cannot be liable for reservation.
The petition filed by Youth For Equality reads: “By way of the present amendments, the exclusion of the OBCs (other backward classes) and the SCs/STs (scheduled castes/scheduled tribes) from the scope of the economic reservation essentially implies that only those who are poor from the general categories would avail the benefits of the quotas. 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, the poor sections of these categories remain completely deprived.”
The beneficiaries of the 10 per cent quota will be those individuals whose annual income is less than 8 lakhs and who possess less that 5 acres of agriculture land.
President Ram Nath Kovind has signed the amendment bill on January 12 after both the houses cleared the bill with huge majority.
Recently, Union human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar, on January 15, has announced that the bill will be implemented in educational institutions from the academic year 2019.
Earlier this month, the DMK filed a petition against the EWS quota in the Madras high court. Apart from these petitions, protests against the quota is gathering steam across the country.
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