The Supreme Court refused to entertain petitions by the Nair Service Society (NSS) and the Kerala Vaisya Kshema Sabha to end caste-based reservation in Kerala and consider class-based reservation for appointment to government services.
Though a Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Vineet Saran dismissed their pleas, the apex court allowed the petitioners to move the Kerala High Court with their plea that castes once considered ‘forward’ are now so ‘backward’ in society that they need a helping hand from the State for their sustenance. The NSS, represented by senior lawyer R. Venkataramani and lawyers Sriram Parakkat and M. Gireesh Kumar, said six decades of caste reservation had resulted in a marked demographic change where ‘have-nots’ had become ‘haves’ who did not deserve ‘protective discrimination.’
The Kerala Vaisya Kshema Sabha, represented by V.K. Biju, asked the apex court to set up a committee to conduct a survey to ascertain which communities are actually backward in Kerala.
Post-land reforms
Mr. Biju said land reforms had deprived forward communities of bequeathed land and reservation over the past decades had left the ‘so-called forward castes’ in penury. The Supreme Court itself had repeatedly pointed out that criterion for reservation should in future shift from caste to the financial position of a candidate.
Mr. Parakkat argued that quota had acted as a ‘discrimination’ which was protected by the Constitution as an exception to the fundamental right to equality.
“Caste-based reservation for the last six decades has left a huge adverse impact on society, since the so-called forward castes like Nairs were adversely affected in the field of education and employment in government services. It is submitted that the present form of reservation based on caste will further damage the social equilibrium of Kerala,” the NSS petition said.
It said the Nair community was not represented properly in any of the departments of the government.