No mandamus by courts to provide quota to any class: SC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declared that a court cannot issue directions to a state government to provide for reservation for any class of citizens, while quashing an order to reserve three per cent seats under sports quota in government medical and dental colleges in Punjab.

“No mandamus can be issued by the court directing the state government to provide for reservation. Power lies with the State to make a provision but, at the same time, courts cannot issue any mandamus to the State to necessarily make such a provision,” a bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna said.

The top court relied upon four past judgements wherein it was held that it was the State to take a call on providing for reservation for different classes based on various factors and that there cannot be any direction by a court to order quota benefits for any particular class of citizens.

The top court set aside the August, 2019 order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which had directed the state government to provide for a sports quota of three per cent in government medical and dental colleges instead of one per cent.

"We are of the opinion that the High Court has committed a grave error in issuing a writ of mandamus and directing the state government to provide for three per cent reservation for sports persons,” the bench said.

The High Court has exceeded its jurisdiction while issuing a writ of mandamus directing the state to provide a particular percentage of reservation for sports persons, the top court added.

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