Mayawati questions ‘quota within quota’ verdict

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Mayawati seeks 9th schedule protection for SC/ST quota

By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, August 2: The Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has questioned the Supreme Court verdict in favour of sub-categorisation of reservation for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (SCs and STs). Former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh slammed the national parties for not giving the protection of the ninth schedule of the Constitution to the reservation benefits for the SCs and the STs.

“Political oppression is nothing compared to social oppression. Has the life of the country’s millions, especially the Dalits and Adivasis, been able to live a life of self-respect and self-esteem free from hatred and discrimination,” asked Mayawati in posts on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

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The BSP supremo stated that if the SCs and the STs are “not able to live life with self-respect, then how fair is the distribution of reservation among these classes that have been divided and defeated on the basis of caste”.

She hit out at the Congress, as well as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “The attitude of both the Congress and BJP parties/governments towards the SC, ST and OBC Bahujans of the country has been liberal and not reformist. They are not in favour of their social transformation and economic liberation, otherwise the reservation of these people would have been protected by including it in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution,” added Mayawati.

The social media handles sympathetic to the BSP have been sharing contents critical of the Supreme Court verdict for the sub-categorisation of reservation for SCs and the STs. They have also been critical of the statement of the Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy that his state will be the first to implement the Supreme Court verdict.

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In a landmark judgment, the seven-bench Supreme Court has ruled in favour of the sub-categorisation of reservation for scheduled castes and tribes. Three judges of the bench also floated the idea of introducing the creamy layer in reservation in the SC and ST category.

The Supreme Court Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud headed bench pronounced the verdict on Thursday morning. The verdict overruled the EV Chinnaiah judgment.

Justice Bela M. Trivedi was the lone dissenter in the landmark judgment of the apex court. The verdict held that the sub-categorisation of reservation in the SC and the ST category doesn’t violate the Article 14 and Article 15 of the Constitution.

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The apex court verdict also based the judgment that the reservation for the SC and the ST inherently enshrined the idea that the beneficiary communities are heterogenous in nature. The Supreme Court ruled that the states can go for sub-categorisation on the basis of quantifiable and demonstrable data.

It cannot be on the basis of the whims of the state, added the apex court bench. The verdict also stated that the sub-categorisation doesn’t violate the Article 16 of the Constitution also.

Justice Vikram Nath, Justice B R Gawai, and Justice SC Sharma supported the idea that the concept of creamy layer be introduced in the reservation of the SCs and the STs on the lines of the Other Backward Castes (OBCs).

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Justice Gavai in his concurring judgment stated that there are suggestions of limited benefits of reservation within the SCs and the STs, while arguing for the introduction of the idea of the creamy layer.

At the same time, Justice Gawai stated that the sub-classes cannot be given 100 per cent reservation within the Sc and the ST quota as per Live Law.

The Supreme Court Constitution Bench judgment has come at a time when the Centre has already been given the Rohini Commission report on the sub-categorisation of the reservation within the OBCs. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has spoken positively for the sub-categorisation of the reservation benefits within the OBCs.

While former Bihar Chief Minister Karpuri Thakur had first introduced the idea of the sub-categorisation of reservation by creating a new class of extremely backward castes (EBCs), the demand for similar sub-categorisation is gaining grounds in other states such as Uttar Pradesh.

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