Supreme Court to hear pleas on EWS quota from Sept 13

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would begin hearing from September 13 a batch of pleas on the constitutional validity of the Centre's decision to grant 10 per cent reservation to EWS in admissions and jobs. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit said this after it was told that the lawyers for the parties would need 18 hours in all to argue.

The bench assured all the counsel that they would be provided adequate opportunity for advancing arguments and said it would assemble again on Thursday to pass directions to ensure smooth hearing on as many as 40 petitions. Some suggested issues, framed by Gopal Sankarnarayanan, a senior advocate of this court, have been submitted.

These draft issues be circulated among all the counsel and after consulting all the crystallised version of all the issues be placed before this this court on Thursday, said the bench which also comprised Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, S Ravindra Bhat, Bela M Trivedi and J B Pardiwala.

Most of the petitions, including the lead one filed by 'janhit abhiyan' in 2019, challenge the validity of 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019, which provides for quota for EWS category candidates.

The Central government, which is led by Attorney General K K Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, had filed the petitions seeking transfer of pending cases, challenging the EWS quota law, from various high courts to the apex court for an authoritative pronouncement on the issue.

The bench noted that lawyers Shadan Farasat and Kanu Aagarwal, appointed by it as nodal counsel for ensuring smooth hearing, would consider accommodating states like Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, which have preferred intervention applications, for advancing submissions.

Farasat said lawyers from both sides have given an estimation about the time required by them for advancing the arguments and 18 hours in all will be required for the matter.

Senior advocates Maninder Singh and Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for Assam and Madhya Pradesh respectively, said they have sought to intervene in the case and would like to submit for these states.