STATE CAN MAKE SUB CATEGORIES IN RESERVED CATEGORIES: SC

A five judge Constitutional bench of SC gave a ruling on 27th August, 2020 with respect to reservations. The Apex Court ruled that for the purpose of reservation of posts for reserved categories, backwards classes can be further divided in sub categories.

The bench had a dissent with the judgement given in 2004 case of Chinnaiah V. State of A.P.

Historical Background

The SC in the case of Indira Sawhney V. Union of India also known as Mandal Commission case, clarified that there is no bar on classification of backward classes into backward and more backward.

Later on, in the year 2006, P&H High Court struck down the circular of the government wherein it was stated that 50% seats would go to Mazhabi Sikhs and Balmikis, out of the seats reserved for Scheduled Castes.

Credit: Amanpreet Kaur