The
Supreme Court on Wednesday posted for hearing on November 21 the pleas
challenging the constitutional validity of extending reservation to scheduled
castes and scheduled tribes in Lok Sabha and the state assemblies beyond the
original 10-year period contemplated in the Constitution.
A
five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said it
would examine the validity of the 104th Constitutional Amendment Act, which
extended quota to SCs and STs in Lok Sabha and state assemblies by another 10
years.
The
top court clarified that it will not go into the validity of the earlier
extensions given for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes reservations through
earlier amendments.
"The
validity of the 104th amendment shall be determined to the extent that it
applies to the SCs and the STs since the reservations for Anglo Indians has
come to an end after the expiration of 70 years from the commencement of the
Constitution," the bench, also comprising Justices AS Bopanna, MM
Sundresh, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra said.
The
top court said the title of the proceedings shall be, "In Re: Article 334
of the Constitution".
Senior
advocate C A Sundaram, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that the
umbrella issue would be whether the constitutional amendments extending periods
of reservation violated the basic structure of the Constitution.
Article
334 of the Constitution mentions the special provision of reservation of seats
for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and the special representation of
the Anglo-Indian community by nomination in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative
Assemblies to cease after a certain period.
The
top court had referred the matter to a five-judge bench on September 2, 2003,
on a batch of pleas challenging the validity of the 79th Constitution amendment
Act of 1999 providing reservation to SC/ST in Parliament and state Assemblies.