SC verdict a boon to most backward SCs

Recently, the Supreme Court has given a landmark judgement on the issue of reservations to scheduled castes in employment and legislatures. By and large this judgement of the SC refers to the right vested with the State governments on the classification of scheduled castes.

The SC classification demand initially started in Andhra Pradesh and spread to other states to assume a nationwide dimension. However, the Supreme Court struck down the SC classification Act as being unconstitutional. Originally, the right to identify SC classification was vested with the Centre as per Article 341. But as per the latest judgement endorsed by six judges of the SC, the right to classify scheduled castes was only vested with the State governments ordaining the implementation of such decision of the SC. The effect of the new decision remains to be seen in case of all States which take it for granted. AP, Telangana, Punjab and Haryana states seem to be in the pipeline in this regard.

There is a categorisation demand among the SCs to prevent grabbing opportunities in reservations. One section of all scheduled castes is snatching away the fruits of the reservation policy. The inequalities are likely to cease after the latest landmark judgement of the SC which is also in favour of distancing the "creamy layer" among the scheduled castes away from the reservations policy. It is however, important that much backward classes are allowed to enjoy the fruits of reservations.

During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, SC classification or categorization assurance was made by the Prime Minister. All southern states have accepted the verdict of SC categorisation in true letter and spirit. The Supreme Court verdict is all set to facilitate the classification of the SCs. The SC/ST Act of 1990 is set to undergo a change following the implementation of the SC judgement. Hence, hopefully a big social transformation is on the anvil as a result of delivering the verdict pertaining to scheduled castes classification by the Supreme Court.

- Bh Indu Sekhar, Hyderabad