Supreme Court agrees to hear plea seeking implementation of 10% EWS quota in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday asked Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments to reply to a plea seeking that they implement the 10 percent quota for economically weaker sections (EWS), in addition to the existing reservation.

A bench of Justices SA Bobde and BR Gavai issued notice to both the states on the plea claiming that all the other state governments have implemented the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019, which granted 10 percent reservation to EWS category in government jobs and educational institutions.

“Neither Tamil Nadu nor Karnataka have implemented or enforced the Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019 till date,” the plea said.

The petition filed by advocate GS Mani sought that the two states make special provisions for its implementation. It said the EWS reservation be implemented without disturbing the already existing quota benefits to the population belonging to the scheduled castes (SC), scheduled tribes (ST), backward classes (BC) and the most backward classes (MBC).

The plea said that Tamil Nadu has granted 69 per cent quota to SCs, STs, BCs and MBCs whereas the percentage of reservation in Karnataka stands at 70.

The petition also said that some of the regional parties in Tamil Nadu were strongly opposing the 10 per cent reservation for EWS for some political reasons and the ruling party in the state was also critical of it.

It said that the ceiling of 50 percent vertical reservation for SC, ST and BC is nowhere prescribed or mandated in the Constitution. “The ceiling of 50 per cent vertical reservation for SC, ST and BC is a suggestion or discussion but not a mandatory direction to the central or state to adopt,” the plea said.