Centre Introduces Constitutional Amendment Bill To Restore States' Power To Identify SEBCs

The Central Government introduced in the Lok Sabha today the Constitution Bill 2021 to restore the power of State Governments to identify and specify Socially and Economically Backward Classes, which was lost after Supreme Court's 3:2 judgment in the Maratha quota case.In the said case, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had held by. The bill proposes to amend Article 342A to state that the power of the President is to specify the socially and educationally backward classes in the Central List for the purposes of the Central Government. Parliamentary Committee, Minister & AG Said 102nd Constitutional Amendment Won't Affect States' Power To Identify SEBCs; Supreme Court Holds Otherwise However, the majority judgment held that after the introduction of Articles 338B and 342A to the Constitution "the final say in regard to inclusion or exclusion of SEBCs is firstly with the President, and thereafter, in case of modification or exclusion from the lists initially published, with the Parliament". Justice Ravindra Bhat, who wrote the lead judgment for the majority, observed as follows : "Parliament, through the 102ndAmendment clearly intended that the existing legal regime for identification of communities as SCs and STs and for their inclusion in the list of SCs and STs under Articles 341 and 342, which had hitherto existed, ought to be replicated in relation to identification of SEBCs" Justices Ashok Bhushan and S. Abdul Nazeer however opined that the 102nd Constitutional amendment does not take away the power of the State to identify backward class in the State.