States can subclass SC/STS

In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the power of States to sub-classify reserved category groups, viz. the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/STS), into different groups based on their inter se backwardness for extending the benefits of reservation, reports Bar and Bench.

The seven-judge Constitution bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, with one dissenting judge, overruled a 2005 judgment which had held that sub-classification of SC/STS is contrary to Article 341 of the Constitution which confers right on the President to prepare the list of SC/STS.

Justice Bela Trivedi dissented from the majority and sub-classificaruled that such tion is not permissible.

"The members of SC/ST are not often able to climb up the ladder due to the systemic discrimination faced by them. Article 14 permits sub-classification of caste.

Court must check if a class is homogeneous or not and a class not integrated for a purpose can be further classified," the Bench said pronouncing its majority judgment.

The court said that historical evidence and social parameters clearly showed that all SC/STS do not constitute a homogenous class.

"Historical evidence shows that depressed class were not homogenous class and social conditions show that all classes under that are not uniform. In state of Madhya Pradesh, out of 25 castes only 9 are scheduled castes," the court noted.