SC Stamps 4-1 On EWS Quota, 10% Reservation Will Continue
Delhi, 7th November 2022: The Supreme Court has given an important decision on the EWS quota given to the people from the economically weaker sections. The court has declared this 10 per cent reservation valid. Chief Justice UU Lalit and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, while reading out their decision, upheld the EWS reservation. He said that this quota does not violate the basic principles and spirit of the Constitution. Apart from Chief Justice and Justice Maheshwari, Justice Bela M. Trivedi gave his opinion in favour of the EWS quota. Apart from him, Justice JP Pardiwala also justified the 10 per cent reservation given to the poor.
Justice Bela M. Trivedi said that his decision agrees with the opinion of Justice Maheshwari. He said the EWS quota is valid and constitutional. Justice S. Ravindra termed this EWS quota as illegal. In this way, the Supreme Court has 4-1 on the 10 per cent EWS reservation given to the poor section. In the Constitutional Bench of five judges, Justice S. Ravindra Bhat was the only one who called this quota wrong. He said that this law is full of discrimination and against the basic spirit of the Constitution. He explained that through the 103rd amendment to the Constitution, a law regarding EWS reservation was passed by the Parliament in 2019. This decision was challenged in the Supreme Court through several petitions, on which the court has given its verdict today after a long hearing.
Justice JB Pardiwala made an important remark while delivering the verdict on the validity of the EWS quota. He said it also needs to be considered how long reservation is necessary. He said that reservation is not the ultimate solution to remove inequalities. Meanwhile, experts say that after the Supreme Court approves the validity of reservation on economic grounds, it may consider providing reservations to some castes in the states on this pattern.
