Supreme Court OBC Reservation: The Supreme Court has taken a historic step and decided to give reservation to OBC. SC, ST, Divyang, ex-servicemen and dependents of freedom fighters will also get reservation.
After getting reservation in government jobs and higher educational institutions like IIT-IIM, now the Supreme Court has also taken a historic step in this direction. The court has decided to give reservation to OBC (Other Backward Classes). The Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of India Justice BR Gavai, has made a major change in the appointment process of its non-judicial staff. Under this, a notification has been issued to provide the benefit of reservation to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Divyang, ex-servicemen and dependents of freedom fighters as well as OBC.
Amendment to 6-decade-old rule
This change amends Rule 4A of the Supreme Court Officers and Servants (Conditions of Service and Conduct) Rules, 1961. This amendment has been made in exercise of the powers of the Chief Justice under Article 146(2) of the Constitution. The notification clarifies that all these categories will get reservation as per the pay scale prescribed for those posts, as per the orders and notifications issued by the Central Government from time to time.
Supreme Court’s action after 33 years
This decision is not just an administrative change but is being considered a major step towards inclusiveness in the judicial system. The Supreme Court has taken this step 33 years after the historic decision, when in 1992, in the case of Indira Sawhney vs. Union of India, a nine-judge bench had constitutionally justified the 27% reservation for OBCs. Despite this, till now the benefit of reservation has not been given to the OBC category in internal recruitments of the Supreme Court. Arjun Singh, who was the Human Resource Development Minister in the previous Manmohan Singh government, had cleared the way for reservation for the OBC category in higher educational institutions.
Rajya Sabha member and senior advocate P. Wilson had been demanding OBC reservation in the Supreme Court for a long time. He termed it a ‘historic reform’. He said that this amendment will now bring the Supreme Court recruitments in line with the reservation rules applicable at the national level.
Not only this, Chief Justice Gavai has also taken the initiative to implement a clear roster system for SC and ST categories, which is in line with the 200-point roster system suggested by the Supreme Court in the case of R.K. Sabharwal vs. State of Haryana (1995). This system will ensure that there is a fair balance between the general and reserved categories.
This is the first time in the history of the country that the internal rules of the Supreme Court have been amended so extensively to ensure social justice. The same Supreme Court that recognized the principles of social justice decades ago, today seems to be implementing the same justice within itself.
