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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

15/11/22 14:13 PM IST

Jharkhand Reservation Bill & Ninth Schedule of the Indian Constitution

In News 
  • Jharkhand government has passed a bill increasing the reservation in vacant government posts and services to 77%, thus violating the 50% mandate of the Supreme Court (Indra Sawhney Case). The government has further called for putting the bill in the 9th Schedule to avoid Judicial Review.

Jharkhand Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (Amendment) Bill, 2022
  • The Jharkhand Assembly passed a Bill to raise the total reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) in State government posts to up to 77%.
  • In the Bill passed by the Jharkhand Assembly, the recommendation is to amend the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution accordingly.
  • The 77 percent reservation breaches the 50 percent ceiling set by the Supreme Court in the landmark 1992 Indra Sawhney v Union of India verdict.
  • However, placing legislation in the Ninth Schedule shields it from judicial scrutiny.
  • Without directly referring to the Indra Sawhney judgment of 1993, the Bill passed in Jharkhand Assembly noted that the 50% ceiling set out in the judgment never explicitly prohibited the breaching of the limit.
Ninth Schedule 
  • The Ninth Schedule contains a list of central and state laws which cannot be challenged in courts.
  • Currently, 284 such laws are shielded from judicial review.
  • Most of the laws protected under the Schedule concern agriculture/land issues.
  • The Schedule became a part of the Constitution in 1951, when the document was amended for the first time.
  • It was created by the new Article 31B, which along with 31A was brought in by the government to protect laws related to agrarian reform and for abolishing the Zamindari system.
  • Article 31A extends protection to ‘classes’ of laws,
  • Article 31B shields specific laws or enactments.
  • The First Amendment added 13 laws to the Schedule.
  • Subsequent amendments in 1955, 1964, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1984, 1990, 1994, and 1999 have taken the number of protected laws to 284.
103rd Amendment Act
  • The Parliament amended the Constitution of India (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019 to provide for a 10% reservation in education and government jobs in India for a section of the General category candidates.
  • Introduction of Article 15 (6) and Article 16 (6)- The amendment introduced economic reservation by amending Articles 15 and 16. It inserted Article 15 (6) and Article 16 (6) in the Constitution to allow reservation for the economically backward in the unreserved category.
  • Article 15(6)- Up to 10% of seats may be reserved for EWS for admission in educational institutions. Such reservations will not apply to minority educational institutions.
  • Article 16(6)- It permits the government to reserve up to 10% of all government posts for the EWS.
Source- Indian Express 

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