Parliament should pass law enabling reservations to cross 50% limit, says Congress
50% reservation ceiling is not officially mandated by the Constitution, but it has been imposed through several Supreme Court decisions
The Congress stated on Sunday that the Parliament should approve legislation to remove the 50% restriction on caste-based reservations in education and government posts.
This happened just a day after the Janata Dal (United), a key element of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, approved a resolution urging that the Bihar government’s ordinance boosting reservations to 65% be included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.
.png "Parliament should pass law enabling reservations to cross 50% limit, says Congress 2")
The Ninth Schedule is a collection of federal and state laws that cannot be contested in court.
On Sunday, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh stated that during the Lok Sabha election campaign, his party demanded that state laws pertaining to reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and all backward classes be included in the ninth schedule of the Constitution, as was the case with a 1994 Tamil Nadu law that allowed the continuation of 69% reservation in the state.
“It is a good thing that JD(U) has made the same demand in Patna yesterday,” Ramesh said. “But its ally BJP, both in the state and at the Centre, is completely silent on this matter.”
He added: “However, bringing reservation laws beyond the 50% limit into the ninth schedule is also not a solution, because according to a 2007 Supreme Court decision, such laws are also subject to judicial review.”
According to the former Union minister, the only way out of this position is for Parliament to enact a Constitution Amendment Bill that would allow for more than 50% quota for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and backward classes.
Ramesh pointed out that the 50% reservation ceiling is not officially mandated by the Constitution, but it has been imposed through several Supreme Court decisions.
“Our demand is that such a bill should be introduced in the next session of Parliament,” said the Congress leader. “JD(U) should not be limited to just passing resolutions.”
The Patna High Court ruled on June 20 that the Bihar legislature’s amendments to enhance caste-based quotas in education and government posts from 50% to 65% were invalid.
In November, the Bihar assembly passed a bill to enhance quotas. The bill sought to enhance Scheduled Caste reservations to 20%, up from 16%. The quota for scheduled tribes was to be raised from 1% to 2%.
It also increased reservations for the other backward classes from 12% to 15%, and the extremely backward classes from 18% to 25%. When combined with an additional 10% reservation for economically disadvantaged groups, the total quota limit in the state would have been raised to 75%.
You might also be interested in – Samajwadi Party MP wants constitution to replace ‘Sengol’ in Parliament, BJP hits back
