New Delhi: The Supreme Court has junked a petition seeking review of its August 1, 2024 judgment which ruled that states have a right to sub-classify Scheduled Castes (SCs) notified on the Presidential List with an objective to provide them more preferential treatment in public employment and education.
A seven-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and comprising Justices B R Gavai, Vikram Nath, Bela M Trivedi, Pankaj Mithal, Manoj Misra, and Satish Chandra Sharma said there is no error apparent on the face of the record in the judgment.
"Having perused the review petitions, there is no error apparent on the face of the record. No case for review under Order XLVII Rule 1 of the Supreme Court Rules 2013 has been established. The review petitions are, therefore, dismissed," said the apex court, in its order dated September 24, which was uploaded recently.
The top court also rejected an application for open court hearing in the matter. “Applications for listing the review petitions in open court are rejected," said the apex court. According to the apex court rules, review petition is considered in chambers of judges without the presence of counsel through circulation of documents.
On August 1, four of the seven judges on the bench separately said the government should extend the "creamy layer principle" to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, like in the case of Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.
The apex court had said it was necessary to exclude the affluent individuals or families from the benefits of reservation, and essential to make room for the underprivileged within these classes.
By a majority view of 6:1, the apex court had overruled the 2004 judgment of a five-judge constitution bench in case of 'E V Chinnaiah vs State of Andhra Pradesh' which has held the SCs and STs are homogenous groups and hence, states cannot further sub-classify them to grant a quota within a quota for the more deprived and weaker castes in these groups.
The apex court ruled that sub classification of Scheduled Castes is permissible to provide preferential treatment to the disadvantaged groups among them based upon empirical data on inadequacy of representation in public jobs and admission to educational institutions.
Read More
