The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, in a 6:1 verdict, that it was permitted to subclassify Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in order to award distinct quotas to the most marginalized members of backward tribes. Justice Bela Trivedi has dissented.
Supreme Court overrules its 2005 judgment
The Constitution bench, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, overturned the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling that state governments had no authority to create sub-categories of SCs for the purpose of reserving.
The court so affirmed the Punjab Scheduled Caste and Backward Classes Act of 2006 and the Tamil Nadu Arunthathiyars Act.
Holding that quota within quota was not against quality, CJI Chandrachud stated that members of the SC/ST were rarely able to advance up the ladder due to systemic discrimination.
“Sub-classification does not violate the principle of equality enshrined under Article 14 of the Constitution,” the top court said.
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“Basis of subclassification will have to be justified”
However, the Supreme Court stated that the basis of subclassification in SCs and STs would have to be justified by verifiable and observable evidence from the states.
“States cannot act on its whims or political expediency and its decision is amenable to judicial review,” CJI Chandrachud said.
Justice BR Gavai agreed with the majority judgment, saying it was the state’s responsibility to give preferential attention to the more disadvantaged communities.
“Only a few persons in the SC/ST category benefit from reservations. The ground facts cannot be contested, and there are groups within the SC/STs that have experienced greater tyranny for generations,” Justice Gavai stated.
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 States must implement a policy to identify creamy layers among SC, ST: Justice Gavai
However, Justice Gavai stated that states must implement a process to identify creamy layers within the SC and ST categories before granting subclassification.
“This is the only way to gain true equality,” he told reporters. Justice Vikram Nath agreed, stating that the creamy layer principle extended to SCs in the same way that it did to OBCs.
