EWS Quota To Stay: Supreme Court Upholds 103rd Constitutional Amendment

A five judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court has upheld the 103rd Constitutional Amendment.

It has laid down that providing reservation based on economic background solely does not violate the basic structure of the Indian Constitution.

The bench headed by Chief Justice U U Lalit and comprising of justices Dinesh Maheshwari, S Ravindra Bhat, Bela M Trivedi, and J B Pardiwala has held that 10 per cent reservation in jobs and education for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) is constitutionally valid.

The Supreme Court had framed three broad issues for judgement on the issue of EWS reservation: 

b. Whether the amendment breaches the basic structure by permitting the state to make special provisions concerning admissions to private unaided institutions?

c. Whether it breaches the basic structure of the Constitution by excluding the SEBCs/OBCs, SCs/STs from EWS reservation?

The bench had reserved its verdict on 27 September 2022, after hearing a bunch of plea that have challenged the validity of the 103rd Constitution Amendment that paved the way for EWS reservation in India.

More updates to follow as and when the final judgement is uploaded on the Supreme Court website.