Justice H.N. Nagamohan Das said his report has made out a case as to how the increase in reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the State was an “exceptional case”, warranting total reservation to cross the 50% cap imposed by the Supreme Court in the Indira Swahney case of 1992.
“The Supreme Court itself has provided an opportunity to cross the 50% cap on total reservation in exceptional cases, with empirical data. All we need to do is to make a strong case, which we have in the present instance,” Mr. Das told The Hindu. With the hike in reservation for SCs from 15% to 17% and for STs from 3% to 7%, the total reservation in the State will go up to 56%.
“Socio-economic profiles of SCs and STs are available in the general census and the committee led by me has studied the historical progression of these communities over the decades in the state. Our study revealed that though SCs and STs have improved in many aspects like education, employment, human development index, they continue to be backward compared to other communities. For instance, while they are over represented in Grade C and D jobs, they are under-represented in Grade A and B jobs. They are under-represented in higher education among other indicators of backwardness,” Mr. Das explained. “In the absence of a caste census report accepted by the State government, we have compared the socio-economic profile of SCs and STs with surveys carried out among OBC and other communities of the state.”
“Since the OBC population in the state is estimated to be 52% and the reservation they enjoy is 32%, we have recommended accommodating more reservation for SCs and STs from the General Category. Since 10% EWS quota has also been implemented for the poor among the general category, from communities who do not otherwise have reservation, they are also not affected by this move,” he argued.
Mr. Das said the State government must immediately implement the hike in reservation in the State through an executive order and later pass a Bill in the legislature and send it to the Union government to be included in the IX Schedule of the Constitution of India, to provide some protection from judicial review.
