Sub-Classification Within The SC & ST Categories Should Not Eventually Lead To De-Reservation

A seven judge bench of the Supreme Court in State of Punjab & Ors. Justice Gavai, in his concurring opinion, while noting this fact observes, “If the State…finds that certain categories within the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are not adequately represented and only the people belonging to few of the categories are enjoying the entire benefit reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, can the State be denied its right to give more preferential treatment for such categories?” Sub-classification for the purposes of reservation, therefore, seemed to be an obvious solution to the problem of under-representation of certain castes or tribes within the reserved categories, who have not benefited from the policy of reservations. The “Not Found Suitable” Phenomenon A major reason for these backlog vacancies is the denial of appointments to reserved category candidates on the ground that they are "not found suitable" to maintain "efficiency of administration" as per the mandate of Article 335. Thus, a policy which allows for lower qualifying marks or standards of evaluation is by the proviso to Article 335 not contrary to efficiency.” While hinting that the current method of evaluation may require a change if the benefit of reservation has to really be extended to those it is meant for, Justice Chandrachud says, “The Constitution does not prescribe the exact method of assessment which must be adopted for the examination. It is to offset this disadvantage that affirmative action policies are introduced for the distribution of posts…” Chief Justice Chandrachud's majority opinion in Davinder Singh interprets Article 335 as a restatement of the necessity of considering the claims of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in public services and not as a limitation to the exercise of the power of granting reservations.