A seven-judge Constitution Bench will deliver its verdict tomorrow on the sub-classification of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). This ruling could have significant implications for the allocation of benefits and reservations among these groups.
New Delhi: A seven-judge bench of the Constitution will deliver its judgment tomorrow on petitions addressing the legal questions surrounding the sub-classification of groups within the reserved categories, specifically the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST).
According to the cause list on the Supreme Court’s website, the judgment will be delivered by a seven-judge Constitution bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud.
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On February 8, the court reserved its decision after hearing arguments from Attorney General R Venkataramani, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, and others.
Senior advocates representing various states have requested a review of the 2004 E V Chinnaiah judgment, which held that all SC communities, having faced centuries of ostracization, discrimination, and humiliation, form a homogeneous class that cannot be sub-categorized.
The bench, which also includes Justices B R Gavai, Vikram Nath, Bela M Trivedi, Pankaj Mithal, Manoj Misra, and Satish Chandra Mishra, considered 23 petitions, including a key one filed by the Punjab government challenging a 2010 Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict.
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The Supreme Court reviewed a reference to revisit the 2004 five-judge Constitution bench ruling in E V Chinnaiah vs State of Andhra Pradesh, which declared that SCs and STs are homogeneous groups, and states cannot create sub-categories within them for more deprived and weaker castes.
The Chinnaiah judgment asserted that any sub-classification of Scheduled Castes would violate Article 14 (right to equality) of the Constitution. It also stated that only Parliament, not state legislatures, has the power to exclude castes from the Presidential List under Article 341 of the Constitution.
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