New Delhi, Sep 21: The Centre on Wednesday submitted before the Supreme Court that EWS reservation does not violate the basic structure of the Constitution.
Attorney General for India KK Venugopal submitted before the apex court that the economically weaker sections (EWS) reservation does not violate the basic structure doctrine.
He further argued that nothing has been altered for SC-ST, and OBC, but qualitatively the purpose of the EWS quota was not to touch the 50 per cent reservation. This 10 per cent is in a different compartment, he submitted.
The AG was defending the constitution’s 103rd amendment that provided for the EWS reservation before a constitutional bench of the supreme court.
AG Venugopal said that the Constitution has provided to secure for all its citizens: justice, social, economic and political, equality of status and opportunity and to ensure that no individual in the country goes hungry.
He further argued that ensuring dignity is a constitutional mandate. He apprised the court about many people living in slums, who are jobless and suffering in cottages. AG Venugopal said that the amendment doesn’t shake any foundation of the Constitution, but it implements all that the Constitution states.
The constitution bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, Justice S Ravindra Bhat, Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice JB Pardiwala, was dealing with issues relating to the constitutional validity of reservations on the basis of economic conditions.
The constitutional validity of the 103rd Amendment Act, 2019 enabled the state to make reservations in higher education and matters of public employment on the basis of economic criteria alone.
The matter will be continued to be heard tomorrow too. (ANI)
