Supreme Court to deliver verdict on plea challenging 10% EWS quota in admission, govt jobs today

NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court will announce its judgement today on a batch of pleas challenging the validity of the 103rd Constitution amendment providing 10 per cent reservation to economically weaker sections (EWS) persons in admissions and government jobs.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit would deliver the verdict in the matter. The apex court had on September 27 reserved the verdict on the legal question of whether the EWS quota violated the basic structure of the Constitution after hearing a battery of senior lawyers, including the then Attorney General K K Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, in the marathon hearing that had lasted for six-and-half-day.

Academician Mohan Gopal and Tamil Nadu, represented by senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, had opposed the EWS quota, saying the economic criteria cannot be the basis for classification and the top court will have to revisit the Indira Sawhney (Mandal) judgement if it decides to uphold this reservation.

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On the other hand, the then attorney general and the solicitor general had defended the amendment, saying the reservation provided under it was different and had been given without disturbing the 50% quota meant for the socially and economically backward classes (SEBC). Hence, the amended provision does not violate the basic structure of the Constitution, they had said.

The top court heard as many as 40 petitions and most of the pleas, including the lead one filed by 'Janhit Abhiyan' in 2019, challenged the validity of the Constitution Amendment (103rd) Act 2019.