The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice on a contempt petition filed against the Centre and the Kerala government for “wilfully disobeying” judicial orders to periodically revise the backward classes list in the State to ensure equitable distribution of the benefits of reservation in public employment.
A Bench headed by Justice B.R. Gavai sought a response from the Centre, the State government through the Chief Secretary and the Kerala State Commission for Backward Classes.
The contempt petition was filed by an NGO, Minority Indians Planning and Vigilance Commission Trust, represented by advocate Haris Beeran.
The petition said the Kerala High Court had, on September 8, 2020, directed the Centre to take necessary steps for finalisation of a socio-economic study report taking into account parameters for the identification of socially and educationally backward classes within Kerala and submit it to the State Backward Classes Commission. Based on the report, the commission and the Centre were directed to complete the evaluation and submit recommendations to the State within a period of six months.
On June 28, 2021, the Supreme Court had extended the time for completing the exercise by a year.
The petition said the contemnors had “deliberately sought to override judicial orders and refused to conduct any census and submit the report to the commission”.
The inaction had led to backward classes, including the Muslim community, to remain in the lower strata of the society in the State.
“It was a workable and legal solution to end the perennial problem of under-representation of the weaker sections of the society in public employment,” the petition said.
Equitable distribution
The contempt plea pointed out that the Indira Sawhney judgment of the Supreme Court in 1992 had called for classification among backward classes and equitable distribution of the benefits of reservation. This had meant a periodic revision of lists to exclude those who had ceased to be backward.
The petition said the lapse in conducting the study and timely revision in the backward classes list was violative of Article 16(4) of the Constitution. The Article had empowered the States to make laws to ensure the representation of the weakest sections of the society in public employment.
The lack of relevant information was also violative of the provisions of the Kerala State Commission for Backward Classes Act of 1993 and the Kerala State Backward Classes (Reservation for appointments or posts in the services under the State) Act of 1995, the petition argued.
