Supreme Court upholds 10 percent reservation for EWS, says it doesn’t violate law

The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutional validity of the 103rd Constitutional Amendment for providing 10 percent reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS). The top court said that the EWS quota does not violate the basic structure of the constitution on account of the 50 per cent ceiling limit on the reservation.

The court passed the order with a majority view of 3-2. Justice Ravindra Bhat dissented from the majority view on EWS. Chief Justice UU Lalit Lalit concurred with the view of Justice Bhat.

At the outset, CJI Lalit said there are four different judgements on pleas challenging the EWS quota.

Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, who read the judgement for himself, said the 103rd constitutional amendment cannot said to breach the basic structure of the Constitution. Justice Bela M Trivedi said the 103rd constitutional amendment cannot be struck down on grounds of being discriminatory.

Justice J B Pardiwala concurred with their views and upheld the validity of the amendment. Justice S Ravindra Bhat, in a minority view, dissented and struck down the constitution amendment on EWS quota.

(With inputs from PTI)

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