Unconstitutional Reservation

The proposed 10% reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for the economically weaker sections (EWS) in the general category is above the 50% reservation currently in place for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, and will take the total reservation to 60%. The famous judgment of the Supreme Court in 1992 in the case commonly referred to as the Indira Sawhney and Others v Union of India, mentions that “Reservation being extreme form of protective measure or affirmative action it should be confined to minority of seats. Even though the Constitution does not lay down any specific bar but the constitutional philosophy being against proportional equality the principle of balancing equality ordains reservation, of any manner, not to exceed 50%.”

The question that arises is: Is the 10% reservation for the EWS against the constitutional philosophy of limiting the total reservation to 50%? Only time will tell.