In a hearing of the Punjab reservation case, a seven-judge Supreme Court bench consisting of the chief justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud remarked that those falling under the backward class and having gained benefits from the reservation shall make way for people from the extremely backward classes and retract themselves from the reserved categories.

The SC questioned, “Why can’t the people who have benefited and prospered from reservations be removed from the reserved categories?”

The bench, including the CJI, alongside justices BR Gavai, Vikram Nath, Bela Trivedi, Pankaj Mittal, Manoj Mishra, and Satish Chandra Sharma, questioned whether the beneficiaries should voluntarily define themselves under the general category now.

It added, “Why are they still in the reserved category? The ones who benefited from reservations and went on to become IAS and IPS officers, their children, are not facing the same conditions as the poor ones living in villages. Despite this, they still benefit from reservations.”

It also remarked, “The decision to maintain the position for the financially well-off people falling under the reserved category is to be taken by the parliament.”

In the hearing, the bench was examining the validity of the Punjab Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes (Reservation in Services) Act, 2006, which guarantees Valmikis and Mazhabi Sikhs a 50% reservation in public jobs meant for the Scheduled Castes.

CJI stated that there is a necessary exclusion of the forward community from competing for those posts, as they are reserved for a backward community.

Yet, our Constitution permits it because we treat equality as substantive equality, not formal equality, and thus, reservation is not really a breach of equality, he added.

Identifying the well-to-do

The SC has also questioned if the states could identify the sub-castes among the Scheduled Castes (SCs) that are more worthy of the reservations.

The Punjab government argued that it could provide reservations and empower them by recognising their sub-castes in the SC categories, which fall under the extremely backward classes.

Punjab’s advocate general, Gurminder Singh, stated that if the general and OBC categories could be distinguished, then such categorisation is also possible.

He remarked that the children of a police inspector from a particular caste might get an opportunity to study in decent schools, but the people from the same caste will not be allowed to fill water from the wells in their villages. Thus putting up a stern argument for the requirement of reservation.

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