SC To Hear Review Pleas Challenging Its Order Upholding EWS Quota On May 9

A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud will hear review petitions challenging its judgement upholding the validity of the 103rd Constitutional Amendment which provides 10% reservation in government jobs and educational institutions to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) on May 9.

With a 3:2 majority, the Supreme Court upheld the 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in admissions and government jobs in November of last year. Three of the five judges ruled in favour of the EWS quota, stating that it did not violate the law.

A five-judge Supreme Court bench comprised of then-CJI UU Lalit, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, Justice S Ravindra Bhat, Justice Bela M Trivedi, and Justice JB Pardiwala was considering petitions challenging the 103rd Constitution Amendment.

“There are some issues and points of determination as to whether it violated basic structure, secondly, if the exclusion of backward classes from getting EWS is violating the equality code and basic structure,” Justice Dinesh Maheshwari remarked.

The court investigated whether there was a breach of the 50% ceiling. Justice Dinesh Maheshwari later concluded, “It does not violate the equality code and basic structure.”

The government implemented the EWS quota in 2019 to provide EWS with job and higher education reservations. The 10% reservation applies to those who are not covered by the existing 50% reservation scheme for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs).

The Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act 2019 passed by Parliament allows both the central and state governments to provide EWS reservations.