Consulting legal experts to ‘protect’ states’ powers, says govt in House

NEW DELHI: The Centre is consulting legal experts to “protect” the states’ powers to identify backward classes, the Union social justice ministry told Parliament on Wednesday, roughly two months after the Supreme Court effectively negated those rights.

On May 5, while scrapping a separate quota for the Maratha community in Maharashtra, the Supreme Court had ruled that after a 2018 amendment in the

Constitution, only the central government could notify socially and educationally backward classes (SEBCS) – not the states.

This interpretation of the 102nd constitutional amendment – which related to giving constitutional status to the National Commission of Backward Classes – effectively struck a blow to the authority of state governments in identifying backward classes and provide them with quota benefits. The Centre argued against this interpretation and even filed a review plea, which was dismissed by SC on July 1. The court ruled that states had no power to draw up their own lists of backward classes after the 2018 constitutional amendment. In response to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Union social justice minister Virendra Kumar said the top court’s judgment didn’t take into account the “legislative intent”. “Government is in consultation with experts and the ministry of law and examining ways to protect the power of the states in determining the state list of OBCS for their respective states,” Kumar said.