On January 09, 2019, Parliament of India passed passed the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth Amendment) Bill, 2019 making provision in the Constitution for ten percent reservation in job and education for those belonging to economically weaker sections of society. This bill received President’s assent on January 12, 2019 and the act came into force on January 14, 2019. The Constitution amendment act was, before President’s assent, challenge on January 10, 2019 before Supreme Court of India by “Youth for Equality“
Petitions
| WP (C) No. 73 of 2019 | Youth for Equality & Anr. v. Union of India (Read petition here, courtesy Bar and Bench) |
| WP (C) No. 55 of 2019 | Janhit Abhiyan v. Union of India |
| WP (C) No. 122 of 2019 | Tehseen S Poonawalla v. Union of India |
Petitions, inter alia, claim:
- Constitution Amendment violates the equality code of the Constitution and is hence, in breach of the basic structure of the Constitution.
- In Indira Sawhney v. Union of India, Supreme Court’s constitution bench has held that the economic criteria cannot be the sole basis for reservations under the Constitution.
- Act violates basic feature of the Constitution as reservation on economic grounds cannot be limited to the general categories and the 50 per cent ceiling limit cannot breached.
Hearing
25 January 2019
Supreme Court’s bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued notice in the above batch of petitions. Refusing to grant interim stay on the act, Court observed: “We will examine the matter. Issue notice”.
Union of India was represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who opposed the petitions arguing that the petitions did not deserve a hearing and vehemently argued that there should not be any stay on the Centre’s decision, reports PTI.
The bench said it has merely issued the notice.
When some lawyers started arguing simultaneously, the bench said, “Don’t come to this court to create trouble. Call the next case”.
