'Reservation has become like...': SC judge says only few groups benefitting, govt must identify more backward classes

Caste-based reservation in India has become like a train compartment where those inside are unwilling to let others in, Supreme Court judge Justice Surya Kant said on Tuesday. "Reservation in the country has become like train compartments—people who have got in don't want to let others come in," Justice Kant was quoted as saying by NDTV. Kant's observation came during a hearing on reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Maharashtra’s local body elections.

The judge, who is next in line to become Chief Justice of India, added, "This is the principle of inclusivity. Governments are duty-bound to identify more classes. There are politically, economically and socially deprived people. Why should they not get the benefit (of reservation)? Only a few families and groups are getting the benefit."

The hearing pertains to a prolonged delay in local body polls in Maharashtra, last conducted in 2016–2017. A major cause has been the legal dispute over OBC reservation. In 2021, the Supreme Court struck down a Maharashtra government ordinance proposing 27% quota for OBCs and outlined a three-part test for implementing such reservations.

These include: Constitution of a dedicated commission to conduct a contemporaneous, empirical study of backwardness in local bodies, specification of the proportion of reservation for each local body based on the commission’s recommendations, ensuring total reservation for SCs/STs/OBCs does not exceed 50%.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for the petitioner, argued that despite identification of OBCs during delimitation, the state had not used this data to proceed with local elections. She also said that local bodies were being run by unelected officials.

Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, also representing a petitioner, submitted that within the OBC category, there is a need to distinguish between politically and socially backward groups.

Justice Surya Kant then said that reservation had become like train compartments, "people who have got in don't want to let others come in". 

Earlier, Justice BR Gavai had used this train compartment analogy in his judgment that said the sub-classification of SC/ST categories is permissible and states can create these sub-classifications.

"I find that the attitude of the categories in the Presidential List opposing such a sub-classification is that of a person in the general compartment of the train. Firstly, the persons outside the compartment struggled to get into the general compartment. However, once they get inside it, they make every attempt possible to prevent the persons outside such a compartment from entering it," Justice Gavai said.

Justice Gavai is set to take oath as 52nd Chief Justice of India on May 14.