DH Deciphers | Legal and Constitutional complexities associated with Telangana reservation bills

On Monday, the Telangana assembly passed bills to increase the quantum of reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and socially and educationally backward classes (SEBCs).

Sumit Pande explains the legal and Constitutional complexities associated with the statutes, which will breach the 50% quota cap set by the Supreme Court.

What are the two reservation bills passed by the Telangana assembly?

The first bill – Telangana Backward Classes, Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribes (Reservation in Education and Appointments in State Services) 2025 proposes 42% reservations for BCs, 18% for SCs, and 10% for STs. The existing reservations for these communities stand at 29%, 15%, and 6% respectively. The second bill – Telangana Backward Classes (Reservation in Rural and Urban Local Bodies) 2025, will enable 42% quotas for backward classes in local bodies polls.

The bills are based on the recent caste survey data collated that pegged the backward class population at 56%.

What are the legislative complexities associated with the bills?

The bills take the total reservations in the state services and education institutions to 70%. As such, the law contravenes the 50% quota cap set by the Supreme Court in the 1992 judgment in the Indra Sawhney case.

Have courts struck down laws that breach the 50% reservation limit?

Based on its caste survey report, the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar passed a bill to increase the reservations for SC, ST, and OBCs to 65%. A year later, the Patna High Court struck down the amendments as unconstitutional.

The Maratha Reservation Bill also failed the judicial scrutiny. The Chhattisgarh 2011 quota law was also struck down by the High Court. Karnataka too in the past has explored the possibility of extending the reservations to 56%.

What are the possible legislative measures the Telangana government is looking at to avoid judicial scrutiny?

After the 1992 SC order that imposed the 50% quota cap, the Tamil Nadu government headed by AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa passed a law to protect 69% of reservations in the state. After the law received Presidential assent, the chief minister urged the Narasimha Rao government at the Centre to place the statute in the 9th Schedule through a Constitutional amendment whereby placing the TN law outside the purview of a judicial review.

Similarly, the Revanth Reddy government can request immunity to Telangana quota laws by following the same process.

What is the 9th Schedule of the Constitution?

The 9th Schedule was inserted in the Constitution by the First Amendment Act in 1951. It was done to provide judicial immunity to land reform laws that were passed by various states just after Independence. By this amendment, Article 31(B) was inserted in the constitution validating any law in the schedule notwithstanding any judgment, decree, or order of any court.

However, in the 2007 IR Coelho case, SC has qualified that this protection under Schedule 9 may not extend to laws violating the basic structure of the constitution.

Has the SC upheld a 50% breach in reservations in any other case? 

In 2019, the Modi government amended the constitution to give a 10% quota to the economically weaker sections over and above the SC, ST, and OBC reservations. The decision was challenged in the SC.

The majority opinion of the 2022 SC split verdict upheld the EWS reservations and held that EWS quotas do not breach the 50% as the limit as defined in the Indra Sawhney case was not 'inflexible.' The court also said the 50% cap pertains specifically to SC, ST, and OBC reservations.

These opinions may be tested for interpretations if the Telangana laws are challenged before the courts.