The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the logic behind a quota for ‘economically weaker sections’ which claims to cater to the “poorest of the poor” but leaves out deprived communities who have suffered denial for centuries.
Members of the Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes are shut out from applying under the 10% quota for economically weaker sections (EWS) introduced through the 103rd Constitutional Amendment. The government justifies the debarment of these communities by arguing that they are already part of the 50% reservation for backward classes. However, petitioners argue in court that their exclusion leaves only the middle class among the forward castes to reap the benefits of the EWS quota.
“Forty per cent of the Scheduled Tribe population constitute the poorest of the poor. When it comes to economic criteria, they are ex facie the poorest of the poor… But their overall reservation is just 7.5%. So there is a large section of them who are kept out because the share of the pie is only that much… Is it a good idea for an egalitarian Constitution to say ‘yes, you are the poorest of the poor but sorry we have exhausted your quota!’ We will give this [EWS reservation] to neither the ST, SC or OBC or constitutionally backward communities but to the other class,” Justice S. Ravindra Bhat, one of the judges on the Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice U.U. Lalit, asked the Centre, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
