Arun Jaitley chides opposition, says back quota bill

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Arun Jaitley chided Congress and other opposition parties to support “wholeheartedly” the bill providing 10% reservation for economically weaker sections among non-reserved classes even as he claimed, amid scepticism all around, that there were no legal pitfalls in the way the legislation has been designed.

Union social justice minister Thaawarchand Gehlot moved the Constitution (124th Amendment) Bill 2019 for discussion and passage in Lok Sabha, saying the demand for reservation for poor among general communities was very old and 21 private member bills seeking the new quota provision have been moved in Parliament over time. Gehlot said there was need to bring the economically backward sections into the mainstream.

Intervening after Congress’s lead speaker K V Thomas said the bill could be struck down by the courts, Jaitley said the proposed amendment to the Constitution buffers it from any adverse legal opinion.

Jaitley said attempts by different state governments as well as by late PM PV Narasimha Rao’s government to provide quota for “poor among forwards” could not pass legal muster because there was no provision in the Constitution which supported quota on economic criteria.

Under the consideration of Parliament, the quota bill faces questions about its legal sustainability on twin grounds: that it breaches the 50% ceiling on total reservation and that it provides quota on economic criteria.

However, Jaitley argued that 50% ceiling as spelt out in the Indra Sawhney judgement, which has become the touchstone for legality of quota measures, only refers to reservation based on caste as provided for in Section 16(4) of the Constitution. It would not apply on new quota that was now being activated through a new section 16 (5), he said.

Also, he argued that economic basis for reservation in jobs and education was sound in law as well as in consonance with the philosophy of reservation as first conceived in the case of “socially and educationally backward classes”. He said while reservation for SC/ST/OBCs was brought to ensure “equality of opportunity”, the 50% ceiling was to ensure that general castes did not suffer from “reverse discrimination”.

“If out of that 50% (for general categories), 10% is being shared among their poor, who can have a problem with it,” he said. He also clarified that quota for “poor among forwards” would only apply to government jobs and educational institutions, saying that the phraseology used in the constitutional amendment bill under consideration was the same as used for backward classes.

The question arose after Congress’s K V Thomas read from the “objectives” of the bill to say that it would apply to aided as well as unaided institutions. With former Union minister Thomas promising Congress support for the measure but expressing doubts about its legal robustness, Jaitley said every party including Congress has promised the measure in its election manifesto.

“If you are supporting the bill, don’t be grudging about it… Will the Congress walk the talk on this? It is a test for Congress and its allies,” he said.

Jaitley chided the agitated Left members by saying that it was the first time that Communists were opposing a measure being brought for the poor.