India Follows Panjab on Reservation for Sub-Classes within Scheduled Castes

On 1 Aug, a seven-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court of India (SCI) headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, in a majority judgment held that the Indian states have a right to sub-classify Scheduled Castes (SC) notified in the Presidential List with an objective to provide them preferential treatment in public employment and education. 49 years before the SC verdict, in 1975, Panjab’s then INC CM Zail Singh issued a circular granting 50% quota within quota for Balmikis and Mazhabi Sikhs who are sub-castes within SCs. This continued until 2006 when the Punjab and Haryana High Court (PHHC) struck it down after it was challenged in the backdrop of the E.V. Chinnaiah v State of Andhra Pradesh case in which a five-judge SCI Bench struck down the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes (Rationalisation of Reservations) Act, 2000 for being violative of the right to equality. After the PHHC struck down the Act, Panjab saw massive protests by Mazhabis and Balmikis. In 2006 itself, then Panjab INC CM Amarinder Singh brought a Bill in the state assembly to ‘protect and safeguard the reservation rights of the Balmikis and Mazhabi Sikhs.’ The Punjab Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes (Reservation in Services) Act, 2006 was enacted (SDW Vol 2 Issue 8, Story 10). During the current judgment, four of the seven judges remarked ‘the government should extend the 'creamy layer principle’ to SC and Scheduled Tribes (ST), like in the case of Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. Creamy layer means the next generations of those who have earlier benefited from reservation. They should not get reservation. Since political parties are dependent on the creamy layer to herd votes, both BJP and INC are quiet on the matter. However, various SC &ST groups differ with the judges’ opinion.