ABSTRACT
Reservation means an act of providing prefer treatment , quota or fixation of seats for the people of certain class so that they could have representation on those fixed seats
for e.g.- the reservation of few seats in parliament for women to increase their representation also to recognize the women on those seats .
- The reservation in India is given to scheduled caste , scheduled tribes and other backward classes in certain government jobs.
- It is generally given on the basis of caste.
- It is basically in education ,employment and political representation.
- It was introduced for the upliftment of socially backward , historically disadvantaged and some aspects of economically despaired persons in Indian society.
- It is the affirmative policy promoting the concept of equal protection of law and equality before law (as given in article 14 of constitution of India ,1950 .
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF RESERVATION
The ancient and historical ill caste practices were considered as only cause for this reservation. It is governed by the rules of government and supported by the policies of Indian constitution.
HISTORY
- The roots of this reservation system are to discovered to be pre independence period ,In 1882 William Hunter and Jyotibha Phule sworn the seeds of caste-based reservation, they proposed their idea to then Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald .It was then kept on standstill but was gone through by British Parliament of that time .
- However this idea was adopted by in 1891 by Chhatrrapati Sahu the MAHARAJA of princely state of Kolhapur at that time he enforced reservation in favor of non-brahmins and backward classes in his territory, this purely came into effect in 1902.
- Although this Idea was for good cause but it took a communal turn in the dirty hands of Britishers they used it as their policy of DIVIDE AND RULE and came up with their true colours . In 1933 they made separate electorates for different sect of society this was nothing just a practice of dividing every sect of society so they could easily rule India and public of our nation could not recognize themselves as Indians and stuck us into our religion ,caste and creed. Each of the muslims,Sikhs,Christians,anglo Indians,EUROPEANS and DALITS would have a separate electorates for voting.
- Some of the Indian leaders opposed this policy each of them having different views some of them supported this policy too like Ambedkar and others with similar views . After a long term of tug-of-war POONA PACT was signed in which it was decided that there would be only one electoral bond that will be Hindu electrol board. This was proposed by MOHAN DAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI.
- Although this pact too having some of the draw backs in it as there were certain reservations left in it which was added to it by Ambedkar , he was the first person in Independent India to advocated the caste-based reservations for the upliftment of the socially backward classes of society .hence the poona pact became a foundation stone for the same after which this started in India .
- After independence the reservations were introduced in India which were originally for scheduled tribes and scheduled castes as they were considered to be only backward class existing at that time.
- After that the demands for the reservations increased among various sections of society which were later commonly called as other backward classes ,the reservations for other backward classes was given on the recommendations of MANDAL COMMISSION in 1991.
MANDAL COMMISSON-:
Mandal commission holds a very significant role in the history of reservation as it gave the right to reservation to the other backward classes in the society .The President of INDIA at that time (RAMASWAMY VENKATRAMAN) formed Mandal Commission in dec,1987; B.P. Mandal was appointed as chairman of mandal commission on whose namethis commission was named as. The main motive of commission was to identify the backward classes in society and to recognize the steps to be followed for their development . It was determined by the report of Mandal Commission that in India 52 percent of population is other backward class so 27 percent of the reservationin government seats must be given to them.Mandal commission selected backward classes not only among HINDU community but also from MUSLIM ,SIKH ,CHRISTIAN and BUDHH community.
DEVELOPMENT (THROUGH PRECEDENTS AND CASE LAWS)
The concept of reservation took many twists and turns in its evolution the reservation has changed itself in many terms it is not the same form in which it was in initial times it is far different in nature nowadays in which it is backed by many rules and regulations of INDIAN laws , the main responsibility for the adaptions of reservations can be given to the various decisions in various cases in which there was a question of law, these cases have directly or indirectly helped the reservation to take place in India.
Some of which are as follows:
State of Madras v. Champkam Dorairajan (AIR 1951 SCC 226)
In this case it was decided by hon’ble Supreme Court of India that cast based reservations are unconstitutional and struck down the government orders of 1927. As per Supreme Court these type of reservations only violate article 29(2) of constitution of India 1950.
This girl(Chapkam Dorairajan) was refused to be given an admission in University of Madras although she was qualified but due to cast based reservations she was denied an admission, which was made unlawful by this decision.
MR Balaji V. State of Mysore(AIR 1962 WP No. 90)
In this case there was a writ petition filed by MR Balaji in opposition of educational disparity, according to him being held in engineering and medical colleges that is these colleges were reserving a significant portion of seats for various backward classes.
Here in the Hon’ble Supreme Court turned the tables and reversed the decision which was given in Champkam Dorairajan case and given scheduled castes and scheduled tribes a 15% reservation although court applied a cap of 50%, which means the number of reserved seats cannot be more than 50%.
Indra Sawhney V. Union of India(AIR 1963 SCC 477)
In this case the report of Mandal Commission was challenged by a reporter Indra Sawhney, the points which she challenged were considered to be lawful hence the lawfulness of commission was maintained and the hon’ble Supreme Court given that -:
- The reservation for Other Backward Classes is lawful which 27%.
- The Other Backward Class reservation must be followed by creamy layer which means if any person in Other Backward Class category reaches specific limit of earning
- The reservation on base of economic earning is not appropriate that is the proposed 10% was not accepted .
- There must be a strict follow up on the cap of 50% reservation .
R.K. Sabbarwal and ors. v. State of Punjab (AIR 1995 SCC 745)
In this case reservation policy for Public SECTOR Engineering was challenged, the “posts“ and “vacancies” were the main issue or question of law for providing reservation.
Hence the Hon’ble Supreme COURT ruled that reservations must be on the number of posts and not in the number of vacancies this post based reservation was made effective from 2nd july 1997 .
Ashok Kumar Thakur v. Union of India (AIR 2008)
In this case Central Education Institute Act,2006 was challenged this act provided reservation in central educational institutions .It was claimed that BASIC STRUCTURE DOCTRINE was violated by this act .
The court held that “reservation is one of many tools that are used to preserve and promote the essence of equality”.
So this petition was dismissed and this act was declared fair and constitutional.
M. Nagrajan v. Union of India (AIR 2006)
In this case the article 16(4A) was challenged which provided that nothing can stop any government from giving any type of reservation on the basis of caste (for upliftment) the hon’ble Supreme Court given direction in this case and said -:
- The article 16(4a) is constitutional .
- The scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are historically backward communities .
- The scheduled castes and scheduled tribes must be given necessary representation in society .
Jaishri Laxman Rao Patil v. The Chief Minister Maharastra (AIR 2014 SCC 240)
In this case order by official gazzete of maharastra government was challenged by the petitioner which gave the extra 16% of the reservation to Maratha students means the students itself from Maharastra . As it was above the celling of 50% of reservation cap as the 16% reservation added up with 15% SC/ST reservation and 27% OBC reservation would go above 50% celling .
That’s why hon’ble Supreme Court declared it as unconstitutional.
It was directed to maharastra government to lower the reservation till 12%.
This case was also known as Maratha reservation case.
Jarnail Singh v. Lacchmi Narain Gupta (AIR 2018)
In this case the reservation in promotion was challenged; the questions in promotions that the reserved category must get the promotions by reservations , should there be any seats reserved
The hon’ble Supreme Court held -:
- There should be no reservations in the process of promotions , the promotions must be given on the basis of talent ,skill and ability .
- There is a creamy layer excluding other backward classes ,these classes after getting reservations fall in the creamy layer so they are excluded from the reservation obviously.
- The question for the scheduled caste and scheduled tribes to be included in creamy layer was also raised in this case but was not upheld.
Janhit Abhiyan v. Union of India (AIR 2019 W.P. No. 55)
In this case the hon’ble Supreme Court held validity EWS that is economically weaker section reservation which is given on the basis of income is constitutional and lawful in nature as it is the need of today’s society so the validity of 103rd constitutional amendment was automatically held ,despite the arguments of article 15(6) and article16(6) which allows reservations only on the basis of caste and the Indra Sawhney case in which it was not accepted were given then also EWS reservation which is 10% of the government seats was upheld it was also declared that it does not violate 50% cap which is celling only for caste based reservations.
Decision on 1 august 2024
In this case it was upheld to sub classify the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes so that the reservation may be given to more backward and more needful candidates of these categories it was asked to apply a creamy layer on scheduled castes and scheduled tribes so that the real deprived ones may be identified in order to give them real benefits of the reservation .
MAIN PROBLEMS WITH THE RESERVATION
Reservation nowadays is no more a need for the society it has became a status symbol for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Reservation is more misused than to be used in today’s aspect , real ones who need it are deprived from it the ones who are with all the resources are enjoying the benefits of it .
The reserved caste are not ready to leave the reservation because they believe that it will remove the indifference between the caste which lies in the society but they do not realize that the reservation is increasing the social indifference in society .The indifference in society can be removed from the society with the help of awareness campaign and other such activities how reservation is supposed to remove it from society .The general caste are nowadays taking more pride to being called general caste person as they are victims of reservations the when the candidate who is not able more than them holds the position this makes them frustrated and this frustration is reversed upon the reservation and reserved categories only hence the reservation in society has worsen the situation it has increased the social disparity among the Indians it has decreased the feeling of oneness among the people of India .None of the government in India have guts to revoke the reservation as it will affect their vote banks ,this reservation also gave rise to caste based politics in India .However there has been a step taken ahead for the removal of reservation which is EWS reservations introduced in 103rd constitutional amendment .
Despite of all these things the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes community have to come forward and should ask government to remove this reservation policy or to alter it in any way from the society which would automatically be a symbol of unity and integrity in the nation ,the reservation can only be removed by taking any such action otherwise it is not possible to revoke it from the society.
It is very necessary to remove reservation from the society to tackle the problems of caste indifference and problem of brain drain can also be solved to an extent if we remove the reservation from the society. Brain drain is the process when an educated mind leaves India due to lack of jobs or lack of opportunities in nation it should not be done because of reservation.
CONCLUSIONS
So after long discussions and research it is concluded by me that the reservation must only be given to the real needy ones, those who are really deprived; as per my opinion the rate of reservation must remain the same but the recipient must be altered means the reservation given to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes must be given to the children of army personnel ,the reservation given to other backward classes must be given to the children of farmers and labour class and the reservation for economically weaker section must remain the same as it is.
So the reservation for the children of army personnel would be 15% for children of labour class and farmer would be 27% in place of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and other backward classes respectively and for the economically weaker section it must remain the same in my opinion.
The reservation must be given to the needy ones and the person who really does a critical job for nation by keeping their lives at risk rather than being caste based and spread negativity in society to save the country’s unity, integrity and oneness.
As per BR Ambedkar the biggest supporter and advocate of caste based reservation he is also known as father of the same has said that the reservation must be only for upcoming 10 years (from the date on which reservation was enforced ) or when any person from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes reaches the higher post of Indian government of which both have been satisfied so this is the time to revoke the reservation from India
References
Om Srivastava
B.com. LL.B.
Teerthanker Mahaveer University
