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Supreme Court strikes down Kerala backward classes act

In a major setback to the state government and the state legislature, the Supreme Court today struck down the Kerala State Backward Classes (reservation of appointments or posts in services under the state) Act, 1995, declaring that there is no ''creamy layer'' among the Other Backward Classes in the state.

A three-judge bench comprising Justices M J Rao, D P Wadhwa and M B Shah thereby allowed an application in the case of Indra Sawhney Vs Union of India (popularly known as the Mandal case) and a contempt petition against the state government for passing the Act.

Holding the state government guilty of contempt of court and passing severe strictures against it for violating the law and directions issued in the Mandal case, the court said the state government acted contrary to the structure of the Constitution. In the Mandal judgment, delivered on November 16, 1992, the court granted 27 per cent reservation in services to the OBCs and directed all the states and Union territories to appoint a commission to discover the ''creamy layer'' among the OBCs so that benefit of reservation went to the deserving candidates.

The court held that Sections 3 and 4 of the Act, which contained a declaration that there was no ''creamy layer'' among the OBCs in the state, were violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution -- both the Articles being part of the basic structure of the Constitution. The court directed that till the state government was able to appoint a commission to find the ''creamy layer'' among the OBCs in the state, all appointments in the state government, public sector undertakings and co-operatives would be on the basic of the OBCs list annexed to the report of the K J Joseph report.

Any appointment made in contravention of the Joseph Committee report would be a nullity, the court added. The court said by enacting the law to overcome the Mandal judgment, the state government had attempted to make ''unequals equal and equals unequals.'' The court noted that because of the Act, candidates from the families of IAS and IPS officers, rich agri-culturism and businessmen, who were declared as ''creamy layer'' among the OBCs by the Supreme Court in the Mandal case, had reaped the benefit of reservation. Though the court had held the state government guilty of contempt of the court, it did not award any punishment saying that the Act was brought about by the state legislature, which could not be punished.

UNI

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