Ordinance on reservations in varsities: SC rejects plea

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea challenging the Centre's Ordinance which restored the roster based reservation system for appointment of faculty members in Universities and higher educational institutions.

A bench of Justices S A Bobde and Sanjiv Khanna told a batch of petitioners led by Prathvi Raj Chauhan, who challenged the validity of March 7 promulgation of The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Ordinance, 2019, to approach the respective high court with their grievance.

“Why cannot you go to the high court,” the bench asked.

When one of the advocates said the issue will have ramification on the entire country, the bench said, "Parliament legislation applicable all over India can be dealt with by the high courts. We are on the issue of jurisdiction. Why have you come here first?"

Advocate Gopal Shankarnarayanan, appearing for petitioners, said the Ordinance tends to nullify the apex court's order.

The Ordinance was passed in an effort to overturn the Allahabad High Court's 2017 judgment, for subject-wise or department-wise reservation. The top court had upheld the HC's judgement on January 23 and dismissed review petitions filed by the Union government and the UGC on February 27 as well as of the affected candidates.

“A rare move was adopted by the central government, to get the political mileage and under pressure from alliance partners. The decision was taken after being worried over the prospects of antagonizing huge vote bank ahead of next Lok Sabha elections,” the petition filed by Chauhan and Priya Sharma stated.