Application of EWS Quota to unaided private educational institutions upheld by the Supreme

Court

The Supreme Court in the case of Janhit Abhiyan vs Union of India, in a 3:2 Majority, upheld that the
103rd Constitutional Amendment does not violate the basic structure of the Constitution. The Court
held that,

“The 103rd Constitution Amendment cannot be said to breach the basic structure of the Constitution
by (1) permitting the State to make special provisions, including reservation, based on economic
criteria (2) permitting the State to make special provisions in relation to admission to private unaided
institutions (3) in excluding the SEBCs/OBCs/SCs/STs from the scope of EWS reservation
- Reservation for economically weaker sections of citizens up to ten percent in addition to the existing
reservations does not result in violation of any essential feature of the Constitution of India”

Further, the court relied on articles 14, 15, 16, and 46 that allow reservations for weaker categories
other than Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and socially and economically backward classes and
stated that the 103rd constitutional amendment provided for reservation for either aided or unaided
educational institutions.
With this judgment in Janhit Abhiyan v. Union of India, the Supreme Court of India has moved a little
beyond and thus overturning all the ceiling limits and providing for a flexible interpretation thus
stating that the 10% in addition to the existing reservations does not result in violation of any essential
feature of the Constitution and does not cause any damage to the basic structure of the Constitution of
India on account of breach of the ceiling limit of 50%. s