A bench comprising of Chief Justice T S Thakur and V Gopala Gowda of honourable Supreme Court has set aside the Delhi High Court division bench decision which held that persons can’t be conceded of quota benefits by virtue of non-submission of OBC Certificate before cut off date, saying weaker sections ought not be denied of reservation as they have been confronting “centuries of oppression”
The Court further referred the issue to a previous High Court decision that had said, selected category candidates could not be rejected merely on account of late submission of caste certificate.
“The Division Bench of the High Court erred in reversing the judgment and order passed by the single Judge, without noticing the binding precedent on the question laid down by the Constitution Benches of this Court in the cases of Indra Sawhney …wherein this Court …held that the object of providing reservation to SC/ST and educationally and socially backward classes of the society is to remove inequality in public employment, as candidates belonging to these categories are unable to compete with the candidates belonging to the general category as a result of facing centuries of oppression and deprivation of opportunity.”
“The constitutional concept of reservation envisaged in the Preamble of the Constitution as well as Articles 14, 15, 16 and 39A of the Directive Principles of State Policy is to achieve the concept of giving equal opportunity to all sections of the society,” the Court said.
Accordingly, the Apex court has then set aside the High Court decision by saying that the historic judgment in the Indra Sawhney case was tying along with constitutional concept of reservation and as such benefits cannot be denied to deprived section in the light of right and duties conferred by the Constitution of India, ultimately to achieve the goal of giving equal opportunity to all sections of the society.
Adv. Mikky Sudhakaran
Read the Judgement here