Reservation An Exception To General Rule Of Equality; Enabling Provisions Do Not Form Basic Feature Of Constitution: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court observed that the reservation is an exception to the general rule of equality and thus cannot be regarded as basic feature of the Constitution.One of the main defence raised by the Centre was that the 103rd Constitutional amendment is enabling, and confer power upon the state, to make special provisions and reservations, based on the economic criterion – thus, cannot. The majority judgment by Justice Dinesh Maheshwari held thus and added that 'being in the nature of enabling provision only, cannot be regarded as an essential feature of that nature whose modulation for the sake of other valid affirmative action would damage the basic structure of the Constitution'. Moreover, even if reservation is one of the features of the Constitution, it being in the nature of enabling provision only, cannot be regarded as an essential feature of that nature whose modulation for the sake of other valid affirmative action would damage the basic structure of the Constitution. Case details Janhit Abhiyan vs Union Of India | 2022 LiveLaw 922 | WP 55 OF 2019 | 7 Nov 2022 | Justices CJI U U Lalit, Dinesh Maheshwari, S. Ravindra Bhat, Bela M. Trivedi and J B Pardiwala Headnotes Constitution of India, 1950 ; Articles 14, 15, 16 - Constitution Act, 2019 - Constitution validity of EWS Quota upheld - Reservation structured singularly on economic criteria does not violate any essential feature of the Constitution of India and does not cause any damage to the basic structure of the Constitution of India - Exclusion of the classes covered by Articles 15, 15 and 16 from getting the benefit of reservation as economically weaker sections, being in the nature of balancing the requirements of non-discrimination and compensatory discrimination, does not violate Equality Code and does not in any manner cause damage to the basic structure of the Constitution of India.