‘Are Caste-Based Reservations In Education For Eternity?’: Plea In Supreme Court

Last Updated on September 14, 2023 by Administrator

Written By – Arshita Anand

An advocate has moved a plea to the Supreme Court on seeking directions to fix time limits for expiry of caste-based reservations in education.

The petitioner, Dr Subhash Vijayran, has made the Union of India, through the Ministry of Education, Department of Higher Education as respondent in the plea.

The petitioner has argued that giving reservation to less meritorious students has stagnated the country’s growth and that if everyone is made to compete in the open, it would be fruitful to the country.
“Now, we have well off doctors, lawyers, engineers, who flaunt their backward tag to gain admissions in PG courses via reservations. Even the Institutions of National Importance (INIs) like AIIMS, NLUs, IITs, IIMs, etc. are not spared. Every year 50% of their very scarce seats are sacrificed on the altar of reservations. For how long will this continue?” the plea has stated.

Citing the Supree Court’s judgment in case of Ashok Kumar Thakur, the plea stated that majority of the Judges were of the view that review as to the need for continuance of reservation in education should be made at the end of 5 years. The plea also said that if the conditions were left to the government, they would not do anything to rectify it.

The petitioner has posed the following questions through his plea before the Apex Court:
Are caste-based reservations applicable for eternity in India?
Is there no other affirmative action – than to provide reservations in education – like giving the weaker sections special education, coaching, financial aid, etc. so as to enable them to compete in the open?
Would eternal reservations in education not divide and fracture the society permanently?