[EWS Quota] Why Supreme Court's Minority Judgment Did Not Read Down 103rd Constitutional Amendment ?

The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court by 3:2 majority upheld the validity of the 103rd Constitutional Amendment which introduced 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections in education and public employment.Justice S Ravindra Bhat, with whom Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit joined, authored a dissenting opinion to strike it down. Constitution Act, 2019 The amendment inserted Clause to Article 15 which reads as follows: Nothing in this article or sub-clause of clause of article 19 or clause of article 29 shall prevent the State from making,— any special provision for the advancement of any economically weaker sections of citizens other than the classes mentioned in clauses and ; and any special provision for the advancement of any economically weaker sections of citizens other than the classes mentioned in clauses and in so far as such special provisions relate to their admission to educational institutions including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the State, other than the minority educational institutions referred to in clause of article 30, which in the case of reservation would be in addition to the existing reservations and subject to a maximum of ten per cent. According to the Justice Maheshwari, the 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 nondiscrimination 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. 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.