Thiruvananthapuram: The reservation for economically backward sections in forward communities in five devaswom boards announced by the state government in November last would not stand the test of law as it is against the essence of the Supreme Court judgment in the Indira Sawhney case of 1992.
This is the opinion given by law secretary B.G. Harindranath to the government.
The court said in its verdict in that case that affirmative action cannot be taken on the basis of economic criteria. It reiterated this in the Nagraj case of 2007 and the B.K. Pavithra cases of 2017.
The law secretary forwarded his opinion along with the judgment in the Indira Sawhney case. Moreover, as per Article 16 (4) of the Constitution, only backward classes which are not adequately represented in the services under the state, can be given reservation.
The argument that devaswom boards are not government organisations would not also hold. The board comes in the category of ‘other authority’ according to Article 12 of the Constitution. The rules of reservation are applicable to them also.
The decision taken by the government on November 15 was to give 10 per cent reservation to the economically weak in forward communities for recruitment in the devaswom boards.
The Cabinet had also decided to increase the reservation for Ezhava community to 17 per cent from 14 per cent and that of SC/ST to 12 per cent from 10 per cent.
The reservation for backward communities other than Ezhava would be six per cent as against three per cent earlier, as per the earlier government decision.
