Abuse of Power: The Supreme Court rightly nullifies the abuse of executive power in

expanding the reservation list

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 50, No. 14 (APRIL 4, 2015), p. 9
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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 : EDITORIALS

Abuse of Power

The Supreme Court rightly nullifies the abuse of executive power in expanding the reservation list.

United Progressive Alliance (upa) government's notifica- for Muslims.

The Supreme Court,Jats
tion including in ainruling on 17
the central March,
list setBackward
of Other aside the previous
There is also government's 5% reservation
the rivalry between in jobs
different groups and education
to keep
Classes (obc). The government's March 2014 notification was a intact their privileges which is adding to social tensions. In
last-minute attempt by the upa to attract the Jat vote of North 2007-08, the opposition by the Meenas to the Gujjar demand to
India ahead of the May 2014 Lok Sabha elections. That did not migrate to the Scheduled Tribe (st) category from the obc list
bring the upa any electoral benefit. The National Democratic in Rajasthan had led to violence. It was ironical that the Gujjars
Alliance (nda) government, however, defended the notification were agitating to be included into the st list, a social climb
in Court. down. In Maharashtra, a number of organisations have been
The Jat caste was already in the state list of obcs in a number actively opposing the extension of reservations to the Marathas,
of states in North India. But the National Commission for Back- and the public interest litigation against the inclusion of Jats
ward Classes (ncbc) had as far back as 1997 rejected demands into the obc list was filed in the Supreme Court by the obc Res
to include Jats in the national obc list. In a cynical attempt at ervation "Raksha" Samiti.
electoral mobilisation, the upa government first pressed the After clearly explaining why the central government order on
ncbc to re-examine its 1997 decision. When the re-examination Jat reservation had to be nullified, the Supreme Court ventured
did not yield the recommendation the upa government wanted, into making vague and unconnected remarks on the larger is
the union cabinet accorded Jats the benefits of reservation sue of caste and reservations. The judgment spoke of new deter
claiming that "ground realities" justified such a decision. It was minants of backwardness, revision of the obc list not only for
common knowledge at the time that in actual fact it was a deci- inclusion but also exclusion, and that greater attention needed
sion taken to please the Rashtriya Lok Dal and its chief Ajit to be paid to emerging social groups like transgenders. The
Singh, who was at the time a member of the union cabinet and prime measure for backwardness is social backwardness, the
whose support was seen as critical for "delivering" Western Court stated, adding that "new practices, methods and yard
Uttar Pradesh which has a large Jat population. sticks have to be continuously evolved moving away from caste
The Supreme Court on an examination of all the relevant centric definition of backwardness."
facts has correctly overturned the notification. The nda govern- The Supreme Court went on to even argue that caste cannot
ment may well file a review petition since it has been so open in be the only standard to determine backwardness, though it ad
its defence of this particular reservation. It has now been mitted it is an important factor. It also held that "self-pro
commonplace for all governments—at the centre and the claimed" backwardness cannot be valid to determine back
states—to use reservations as a political instrument to attract wardness.
electoral support. They often anoint a particular caste into the It was somewhat unusual for the Supreme Court to make
list at the 11th hour on the eve of elections. We have had two such such observations, which are not relevant to the writ petition it
instances in little over a year. was hearing. The observations are also random and inconsist
Yet, the decision is not always to expand the list of reserva- ent and do not in any way add to jurisprudence on reservations,
tions. Political ideologies can drive the removal of certain The benchmark there remains Indra Sawhney (1992), which up
groups from the reservation. Thus, the Bjp-Shiv Sena govern- held the implementation of separate reservations for obcs, to
ment in Maharashtra has had no compunctions in quashing the which the most recent judgment makes no further contribution.

FROM 50 YEARS AGO

FROM 50 YEARS AGO have reached full strength; recruitment to policy. It also says that there is no precedent
771»a the technical branches is slow but should pick for the kind of war that India has to be pre
•'»■'Hv BAvHMUIIV WWMy up as'captive'graduates complete their stud- pared for on the northern border: no major
9 journal ot current Ctonomit anb jpoifttrai ««air« ies. The air force remains short of both equip- wars have ever been fought in such terrain.
vol xvii, no 14, April 3,1965 ment and training facilities, operational India is, therefore, largely on its own in devis
squadrons continue to be burdened with ing suitable equipment, training and organisa
WEEKLY NOTES training flights and there is a considerable tion for a Himalayan war. On equipment and
backlog of repairs. Measures are in hand to training, there is some information; about the
Murky Light on Detence make the army younger and to democratise organisation of battle formations, there is pre
The five-year plan for defence drawn up in the office-corps; the period of active service cious little. We have heard a lot about new
1963 will cost Rs 5,000 crores, including nor- for Jawans has been cut down and the quota mountain divisions but the division by itself is
mal maintenance. It aims mainly at an army for grant of officers' commissions to JCO's, hardly a suitable formation for Himalayan
strength of 825,000 and 45 air force squad- NCO's, etc, has been raised from 24 to 42 per fighting; it is too large, cumbersome and based
rons. The Defence Ministry's annual report cent. Shortage of trained airmen has, at the upon compartmental grouping of various
for 1964-65 gives, for the first time, some out- same time, required extension of active serv- arms, each of which owes its 'loyalty', to the
lines of the plan, and the programme of im- ice in the air force.... regiment (which is a purely administrative or
proved training and production of standard The report opens with the statement that historical unit) rather than the formation of
armaments. Non-technical ranks in the Army defence policy is part of a country's foreign which it is a part.

Economic & Political weekly QUI April 4, 2015 vol l no 14

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