Supreme Court mulls 5-judge bench over quota

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday reiterated that it will not stay the operation of the amendment to provide 10 per cent reservation for economically backward communities in the country but will consider listing the matter for hearing by a five-judge Constitution bench considering the important questions involved.

The SC bench told senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan and others that the matter would be heard on March 28 when the issue of reference to a larger bench would be considered.

Earlier, Mr Dhavan submitted that the law is against the basic structure of the Constitution as it exceeds the quota of 50 per cent cap fixed by various apex court judgments.

Attorney-general K.K. Venugopal, while opposing stay at this stage, said the government would file a detailed reply to all the petitions.

The pleas filed by Youth For Equality, Kaushal Kant Mishra and others sought the quashing of the Constitution (103 Amendment) Act, 2019, saying economic criterion cannot be the sole basis for reservation.

They said the law violated the basic feature of the Constitution as reservation on economic grounds cannot be limited to the general category and the overall 50 per cent ceiling limit cannot be breached.

In the present form, the upper limit of quota goes up to 60 per cent, which violates the decisions of the SC, the plea claimed.

Referring to the nine-judge bench decision of the apex court in the landmark 1992 Indira Sawhney case, the plea said the latest amendment completely violated the Constitu-tional norm that economic criterion cannot be the only basis of reservation.