Quota Politics in Uttar Pradesh: A Quick Legal Glance

Reading time: 2-3 minutes.

Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Adityanath recently gave reservation benefits
available to Schedule Castes (SCs) to 17 castes which are currently under Other Backward
Classes (OBCs). Similar attempts have been made in the past as well, during the tenures of
Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav.

Is this move legally sound?

Article 341 of the Constitution provides that only the President and Parliament of India shall
have power to modify the list of Scheduled Castes. State governments do not have any such
power. Therefore, this move is in violation of the constitution. Minister for Social Justice and
Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot has acknowledged this fact in Parliament.

Secondly, the OBCs in question here may not even qualify to be SCs. These castes may be
backward in terms of educational and economic standards without any doubt. But SCs are
those castes which have suffered untouchability and social discrimination in the past. These
two concepts should not be confused with each other.

Then why are Caste Certificates still being issued?

Uttar Pradesh government had issued a notification in 2016 which gave SC status to 17 castes
from OBCs. This was challenged in the court of law. In March 2017, Allahabad High Court
passed an interim order that in case any certificates are issued under the said notification,
their validity will be subject to the outcome of the litigation.

This order is being utilized by the U.P. government to issue Caste Certificates. They have
directed authorities in all districts to issue these certificates to the notified persons belonging
to the OBCs. These certificates are subject to outcome of the case.

What is the political angle of this move?

Caste is a very sensitive nerve in the politics of U.P. Parties have been promising to give
greater benefits of reservation to various castes in order to win their favour. The current move
is on similar lines as by-polls are about to be conducted in U.P.

In conclusion…
The 17 castes in question here may be genuinely deprived. However, well planned steps are
needed to alleviate them, and not mere appeasement measures at the time of elections. The
move to include them among SCs will face a lot of legal hurdles. A more legally sound
measure in this situation could have been their inclusion in a separate compartment among
the existing OBCs.