Economic criteria to ensure that the benefits of government policies reach the target group is not forbidden by law and forms a reasonable basis of classification, the Supreme Court observed orally on Wednesday while hearing pleas challenging the Centre’s decision to grant a 10% reservation to economically weaker sections category in admissions and jobs, reported PTI.
The petitioners before the a five-judge Constitution bench have challenged the 103rd amendment to the Constitution, which introduced changes to Articles 15 and 16 that deal with the right to equality and provide the basis for reservations.
At an earlier hearing on Tuesday, Advocate Mohan Gopal, representing a group of petitioners, had told the Supreme Court that the 103rd amendment is a “fraud on the Constitution”.
“This amendment is being seen as an instrument to protect the privileged rather than safeguarding the marginalised,” he had told the court.
On Wednesday, Lawyer Ravi Verma Kumar, argued that the law discriminates on grounds of caste and religion, violating the right of a person to avail himself of equal opportunities to public employment. This right is part of the basic structure of the Constitution, Kumar said.
“Dr BR Ambedkar was born a Hindu and died as a Buddhist and even he would not have got the reservation under…
