Unfolding the Enigma of Reservation

It cannot be denied that the constitution makers were aware of the challenges in bringing about true equality. The author, a Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India, discusses the importance of reservation policy to the realisation of the principle of substantive equality and social justice.

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IN January 2019, the 103^rd Constitutional Amendment Act garnered much furor on account of 10% of seats in educational institutions or posts in State services for economically weaker sections of the society. The States are entrusted with the task of naming the beneficiaries from among the upper-caste members on the basis of family income and other indicators of economic disadvantage. One of the issues highlighted was that "indicators of economic disadvantage" remained undefined and restricted to "family income". Thus, cementing the claims of individuals of educationally well placed and otherwise well-represented upper-castes.

The existing machinery of reservation in favor of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes adds to a 49.5% at this point. With the introduction of 10% reservation of Economically Backward Classes, a majority of the seats in any public podium are subjected to reservation. This defeats the very rationale behind equality doctrine, harmonious in Articles 14 and Article 16. This was challenged and numerous petitions filed before the Hon'ble Supreme Court one of them being Youth for Equality v. Union of India^[1], the matter remains sub-judice and has been referred to a larger bench for conclusive deliberation.

The reservation policy in India, was introduced to uplift the socio-economic status of the underprivileged, under-represented and stunted masses. In India, lies a structurally, deep-rooted caste based stratification. The caste system promoted untouchability and discrimination and further divided the society into conflicting groups.

The founding fathers of the Constitution noticed the inequality present in society and introduced an exhaustive machinery to further substantive equality, devised with the intention of inducing affirmative action.