SC no to reservation benefit in another state
New Delhi, Aug 30 : The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a person belonging to a Scheduled Caste listed in a particular state would not be entitled to reservation benefits if he migrates to another state for employment or education.
"A person notified as a Scheduled Caste in State 'A' cannot claim the same status in another state on the basis that he is declared a Scheduled Caste in State 'A'," said a Constitution Bench.
The enabling provision under Article 16(4) of the Constitution is to "provide for reservation to classes or categories of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes enumerated in the Presidential orders for a particular state or territory within the geographical area of that state and not beyond", said the Constitution Bench, headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi, in a majority judgment.
However, it said, "... so far as the National Capital Territory of Delhi is concerned, the pan-India reservation rule in force is in accord with the constitutional scheme relating to services under the Union and the states/union territories."
The court said this while addressing the question of "whether a person belonging to a Scheduled Caste in relation to a particular state is entitled or not to the benefits or concessions allowed to Scheduled Caste candidates in employment in any other state."
The bench also addressed the question whether the states on their own could add to the Presidential list of SCs/STs for particular states.
Speaking for the majority, including Justices N.V. Ramana, Mohan M. Shantanagoudar and S. Abdul Nazeer, Justice Gogoi said: ... that the expression "in relation to that state or union territory" and "for the purpose of this Constitution" used in Articles 341 and 342 would mean that the benefits of reservation provided for by the Constitution would stand confined to geographical territories of a state/UT in respect of which the list of SC/ST have been notified by Presidential orders issued from time to time."
The court said that if a state wants to extend the benefits of reservation to a class/categories of people beyond those included in the Presidential list for that state, it will have to "prevail" upon the central authority to undertake appropriate parliamentary exercise to amend and expand the list.
"Unilateral action by the states on the touchstone of Article 16(4) of the Constitution could be a possible trigger point of constitutional anarchy, and therefore must be held to be impermissible under the Constitution," the judgment said.
In her separate judgment, Justice Banumathi agreed with the majority view on the benefits of reservation confined to a particular state but differed on the applicability of pan-India SC/ST reservation list to the Union Territory of Delhi.
There cannot be any distinction between the states and the union territories. Likewise, there can be no distinction between the union territory of Delhi and other UTs, Justice Banumathi said in her minority judgment.
"When the Presidential Orders for listing Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes are notified for various UTs, including the Union Territory of Delhi, extending pan-India reservation to employment falling under the services of UTs, including Delhi, will be against the constitutional scheme and the law laid down by the top court in Marri Chandra Shekhar Rao and Action Committee case," Justice Banumathi added.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
World No. 1 Chakravarthy achieves career-best rating in ICC T20I bowler rankings
Dubai (PTI): India spinner Varun Chakravarthy on Wednesday consolidated his position at the top of the ICC Men's T20I Bowler Rankings, reaching a career-best rating following a stellar show in the ongoing T20 series against South Africa.
The 34-year-old Chakravarthy earned a new best rating of 818 points on the back of his third consecutive two-wicket haul in five-game home series.
The right-armer has six wickets across the first three matches of the series, with his spell of 2/11 from four economical overs in the most recent contest in Dharamsala proving pivotal in India's clinical seven-wicket triumph.
Chakravarthy (818 rating points) now holds a 119-point advantage over his closest rival in New Zealand seamer Jacob Duffy (699) in second-place, while also moveing inside the top 10 for the best rating of all-time for T20I bowlers.
Left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh also improved four places to 16th overall on the rankings for T20I bowlers on the back of his Player of the Match heroics against the Proteas in the third game.
For South Africa, Marco Jansen (up 14 spots to 25th), Lungi Ngidi (up 11 rungs to 44th) and Ottneil Baartman also improved, reaching 68th from outside the top 100.
Among T20I batters, India now boast two players inside the top five on the rankings, with Tilak Varma gaining two spots to move to fourth overall after a trio of decent innings against South Africa.
Teammate Abhishek Sharma maintains a decent buffer at the top, while South Africa duo Aiden Markram (up eight places to 29th) and Quinton de Kock (up 14 spots to 43rd) made good ground following some decent recent efforts.
Pakistan's Saim Ayub has a narrow lead at the top of the rankings for T20I all-rounders despite not playing any international matches across the last week, with India's Shivam Dube the big mover on this list as he improves two places to 16th.
