oppn parties States Lose The Power To List OBCs

Story Of The Day

Why India Was Right to Stay Out of the Iran-US Imbroglio
OPINIONS : Strongly Expressed

April 18, 2026

People Are Talking About

Cyber Scams in India How They Work and How to Protect Yourself and Your Family

News Snippets

  • NCLT initiates bankruptcy proceedings against former Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot for defaulting on loans of Rs 6158cr as personal guarantor in two group companies
  • LIC approves 1:1 bonus share issue
  • Gold and silver futures also go down by 0.7% and 2.2% respectively
  • Stocks tumbled again on Monday as crude prices rose: Sensex went down by 703 points and Nifty by 207 points
  • Supreme Court refuses to cancel the land-for-jobs FIR against Lalu Prasad
  • The spectre of El Nino haunts India: IMD predicts 'below normal ' monsoon this year
  • Labour protest over increase in wages by 35% (as per Haryana example) turns violent in Noida, nearly 200 were detained by the police
  • Congress leader Sonia Gandhi said that the delimitation exercise must be carried out after the Census is complete
  • PM Modi says Parliament is on the verge of creating history as the Houses get ready to take up the women's reservation bills
  • Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said that TCS COO Aarthi Subramanian is conducting a thorough inquiry to establish facts and identify individuals involved in the sexual harassment allegations at the company's Nashik office
  • Asha Bhonsle laid to rest with full state honours on Monday in Mumbai
  • AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal once again approached the Delhi HC to request the recusal of a judge from his case
  • Candidates Chess: R Vaishali on the verge of creating history, but needs two wins - one with black pieces - against formidable opponents to emerge as the challenger
  • Rohit Sharma, who retired hurt in the match versus RCB, underwent scans for possible hamstring injury
  • IPL: Abhishek Sharma fails for SRH but Ishan Kishan (91) shines. Then, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi fails for RR and SRH bolwers, especially unheralded Praful Hinge (4 for 24) and Sakib Hussain (4 for 24) win it for SRH. This was the first loss for table-toppers RR
Supreme Court questions Election Commission about SIR SOP and why logical discrepancy was introduced only in Bengal
oppn parties
States Lose The Power To List OBCs

By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2021-05-06 13:04:49

The 102nd amendment to the Constitution had granted constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) and had allegedly altered the system of identifying OBCs. The usual practice was for two lists - Central and state - to exist simultaneously and states had the power to identify communities and classes that were socially and educationally backward (SEBC) to grant them the benefit of reservation. At the time the amendment was carried out, several opposition parties had raised objections that the wording of the law would take away the rights of the states. But the government, especially the social justice minister Thaawarchand Gehlot, had rubbished the claims and had said that it was just to grant constitutional status to the NCBC.

But the Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment that will have wide ramifications, upheld the validity of the 102nd amendment unanimously, although the judges differed on how it altered the system of identifying the OBCs. A majority of three judges said that henceforth, only the President (which effectively means the Centre as the President issues orders on the advice of the central Council of Ministers) will be able to take decisions on declaring SEBCs for granting reservation. This denudes the power of the states in this regard. Two judges differed and in a separate order said that the system of having two lists can continue and both the Centre and the states can have their own lists in this regard.

If the wording of the amendment is not corrected, states will now have to make recommendations to the Centre to include SEBCs identified by them. Since most states feel that each state has different classes that need to be identified as OBCs after studying the ground realities and the background, they feel that this order will take away an important tool from them to provide social justice to backward communities and classes. They have asked the Centre to study the SC order in detail and amend the 102nd amendment appropriately to restore their power.

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

The Wangchuk Climbdown

The Wangchuk Climbdown

 World Cup Victory Is A Win For Gautam Gambhir's New Ecosystem

World Cup Victory Is A Win For Gautam Gambhir's New Ecosystem

In Depth

Why This Rare Death Sentence May Be Justified

Why This Rare Death Sentence May Be Justified

Editor's Pick

Vaibhav Suryavanshi Leads India To A Record Victory

Vaibhav Suryavanshi Leads India To A Record Victory
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.