24/08/2024
Legal Update
These are the Provisions Related to Reservations in Constitution of India, 1950 (COI)?
Part XVI of the Constitution of India, 1950 (COI) deals with reservation of SC and ST in Central and State legislatures.
Article 15(4) and 16(4) of the COI enabled the State and Central Governments to reserve seats in government services for the members of the SC and ST.
The Constitution was amended by the Constitution (77th Amendment) Act, 1995 and a new clause (4A) was inserted in Article 16 to enable the government to provide reservation in promotion.
Later, clause (4A) was modified by the Constitution (85th Amendment) Act, 2001 to provide consequential seniority to SC and ST candidates promoted by giving reservation.
Constitutional 81st Amendment Act, 2000 inserted Article 16 (4 B) which enables the state to fill the unfilled vacancies of a year which are reserved for SCs/STs in the succeeding year, thereby nullifying the ceiling of fifty percent reservation on total number of vacancies of that year.
Article 330 and 332 of COI provides for specific representation through reservation of seats for SCs and STs in the Parliament and in the State Legislative Assemblies respectively.
Article 243D provides reservation of seats for SCs and STs in every Panchayat.
Article 233T provides reservation of seats for SCs and STs in every Municipality.
Article 335 of the constitution says that the claims of STs and STs shall be taken into consideration constituently with the maintenance of efficacy of the administration.
What are the Types of Reservations?
In the case of Indra Sawhney v. Union of India (1992) the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court held that there are two types of reservations:
Vertical Reservations
They are the highest form of special provisions intended exclusively for members of backward classes SC, ST and OBC.
This is covered under Article 16 (4) of COI.
They cannot exceed 50%.
Horizontal Reservations
They are lesser form of special provisions and are intended for other disadvantaged citizens (like disabled, women etc).
These are provided for under Article 16 (1) of COI.
Horizontal reservations cut across the vertical reservations.
Types of Horizontal Reservation:
Compartmentalized Horizontal Reservation
In this type of reservation proportionate seats are reserved in each vertical reserved category.
An example would be if the total number of vacancies are 89. In case of compartmentalized reservation they can be divided as follows:
Total Vacancies General SC ST OBC EWS
89 35 out of which 10 for women out of 10, 2 posts reserved for widow 14 out of which 4 for women out of 4 posts 1 posts for widow 10 out of which 3 posts for women 18 out of which 5 posts for women 8 out of which 2 post for women
Overall Horizontal Reservation
Here the reservation is not specific to each vertical category.
The reservation provided here is provided on the total posts advertised i.e. such reservation is not specific to each vertical category.
An example would be if the total number of vacancies are 89 and out of the total seats 4 are reserved for Person with Disabilities, it would be overall Horizontal Reservation.
A Landmark Case Law on Applicability of Overall and Compartmentalized Horizontal Reservations..
Anil Kumar Gupta and Others v. State of U.P. and Others (1995)
The difference between overall and compartmentalized reservation is as follows:
Overall Horizontal Reservation Compartmentalized Horizontal Reservation
While allocating the special reservation candidates category the overall reservation in favour of special reservation categories has to be honoured. Where seats reserved for the Horizontal Reservation are proportionately divided amongst the Vertical Reservations and are not intertransferable
