The Constitution does not expressly permit reservation for women in public employment. On the contrary, Article 16(2) prohibits discrimination in public employment on the ground of sex. Therefore, women can, at best, be provided only horizontal and not vertical reservation on the basis of the Supreme Court’s pronouncement in the famous Indra Sawhney’s case (1992), the Madras High Court has ruled.
Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice N. Mala held that the 30% reservation provided to women in public employment under Section 26 of the Tamil Nadu Government Servants (Conditions of Service) Act, 2016 would stand declared unconstitutional if the State government and the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) wanted to continue the practice of following the vertical methodology.
The judges made it clear that the legal provision could be saved only if the government was willing to implement it horizontally in future appointments. They advised the government to amend the provision accordingly. The verdict was delivered while disposing of a batch of writ petitions filed in 2013, 2021 and 2022 challenging the “wrong” methodology adopted by the TNPSC for providing the reservation to women.
