SC to hear 10% EWS quota petitions on April 8

New Delhi:  The Supreme Court on Thursday refrained from passing any order on the repeated plea for stay of the notification providing for 10 per cent reservation in jobs and educational institutions for the economically weaker sections of unreserved categories.

Refraining from issuing any order on the plea by lawyers seeking a stay of notification, the SC Bench, comprising Justice S.A. Bobde and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer. adjourned the matter for April 8.

At the last hearing on March 11, the Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjiv Khanna had said they would consider on March 28 whether petitions challenging the 10 per cent reservation in jobs and educational institutions for the economically weaker sections of unreserved categories should be referred to a larger Bench.

However, the matter was listed before the Bench of Justice Bobde and Justice Nazeer as CJI Gogoi is heading five-judge constitution Bench hearing a number of cases involving the interpretation of the Constitution.

Senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan on Thursday again contended that 10 per cent reservation was in the teeth of two earlier constitution Bench judgments, which said there can't be reservation on economic grounds alone. 

Dhavan said the cap on the 50 per cent reservation was part of the Constitution's basic structure.

The batch of petitions, including by NGO Youth for Equality, have challenged the constitutional validity of this 10 per cent reservation.

The organisation said the amendment violated the "basic structure" of the Constitution as cited in a 1992 Supreme Court judgment that held that economic criteria cannot be the sole basis of reservations under the Constitution.