The Supreme Court on Monday decided to start hearing in April a series of petitions challenging the criteria fixed by the government to identify economically weaker sections (EWS) of society for granting 10% reservation in education and jobs. A Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud listed the case on April 28 and asked the parties to file short notes on their submissions a week before the date.
The court has primarily raised the question about the government’s decision to fix ₹8 lakh as annual income limit. On January 17, 2019, the government had released an official memorandum (OM) informing that families earning a gross annual income below ₹8 lakh would be identified as EWS for benefit of reservation. The OM was issued just three days before the Constitution (One Hundred and Third) Amendment Act, which introduced EWS quota, came into force on January 14, 2019.
The court had even wondered whether the ₹8 lakh threshold was “largely based” on the criterion to identify creamy layer in OBC quota.
