New Delhi, September 27
The Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it has decided to add around 2.14 lakh additional seats in central educational institutions, increasing their intake by 25 per cent to ensure that the 10 per cent EWS quota didn’t eat into the existing seats available for the general category and reserved categories of SC, ST and OBC.
On the concluding day of hearing on petitions challenging the 103rd Constitutional Amendment which provides for 10 per cent quota for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) in government jobs and educational institutions, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the government has given Rs 4,315 crore to central higher educational institutions to create additional infrastructure for the increased seats.
The Centre’s statement came in the wake of arguments advanced by those opposed to EWS quota law who contended that it excluded the poor belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and didn’t have the creamy layer concept. They termed it a “fraud on the Constitution”.
However, Attorney General KK Venugopal defended the EWS quota law, asserting that it did not violate the basic structure of the Constitution and did not disturb the 50 per cent existing quota meant for SCS, STs and OBCs.
After seven days of marathon arguments, a five-judge Constitution Bench led by CJI UU Lalit reserved its verdict on petitions challenging the EWS quota in public employment and education.
The court is broadly considering three questions, the first being whether the 103rd Constitution amendment Act can be said to breach the basic structure of the Constitution by permitting the State to make special provisions, including reservation, based on economic criteria.
The other two issues are: Whether the constitutional amendment could be said to breach the basic structure by permitting the state to make special provisions concerning admissions to private unaided institutions and whether it can be said to breach the basic structure of the Constitution in excluding the SEBCs/OBCs, SCs/STs from the scope of EWS reservation.
