2. Supreme Court upholds EWS quota by 3:2 majority; Justice Bhat in minority
Case Title: Janhit Abhiyan v. Union of India with 32 connected matters
In this case, a five-judge Constitution Bench, by a 3:2 majority, upheld the validity of the 103rd Constitutional Amendment which introduced 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in education and public employment.
Justice Bhat, who authority the minority opinion for himself and then Chief Justice of India UU Lalit, held the 103rd Constitutional Amendment as unconstitutional for excluding the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) from reservation.
Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, Bela M Trivedi and JB Pardiwala were in the majority.
In his dissenting judgment, Justice Bhat observed that the total and absolute exclusion of constitutionally recognised backward classes of citizens and, more acutely, the SC and ST communities, is nothing but discrimination which undermines the equality code.
He further reasoned that the exclusionary principle in the amendment separated those subjected to socially questionable and outlawed practices, though they are amongst the poorest sections of society.
Read more about the majority and minority view here.
Source: Barandbench
