Arguments in EWS verdict may serve as a shot in the arm for seeking more quota post Bihar caste survey

Supreme Court's EWS ruling may spur OBCs to seek reservation over 50% limit, citing data from Bihar survey. Court had held that 50% limit was not "inflexible or inviolable" and that reservation can be made in "march towards an all-inclusive egalitarian society". SC had noted that "special case" can be made for "disadvantaged sections" and that "every case must be decided with reference to present practical results".

Arguments employed by the Supreme Court in its majority verdict to uphold the 10% economically weaker sections (EWS) quota for the “poorest of the poor” among forward castes can paradoxically become a stimulus for the backward classes to seek reservation over and above the 50% ceiling limit on the basis of the data published after the Bihar caste-based survey.

The EWS judgment had excluded the “poorest of the poor” among the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes from the ambit of 10% quota.

The majority 3:2 judgment had held that the EWS quota did not breach the ceiling limit of 50% placed by the Indira Sawhney judgment on reservations as the State can make “special provisions from time to time in the march towards an all-inclusive egalitarian society”.

In his lead opinion for the majority on the Bench in the EWS quota case, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari (now retired) concluded that the 50% ceiling limit, though held attached to the constitutional requirements, was neither “inflexible nor inviolable for all times to come”. Further reservation by affirmative action by the State cannot be seen as damaging the Basic Structure of the Constitution. The judge agreed that a mathematical precision of 50% was difficult to follow in human affairs.

“In the case of proportional equality the State is expected to take affirmative steps in favour of disadvantaged sections of the society within the framework of liberal democracy,” Justice Maheshwari had quoted from the M. Nagaraj judgment.

The Bihar survey data released on Monday show that the Other Backward Classes and the Extremely Backward Classes together constituted 63% of the population of the State.