Topics Covered: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
How horizontal, vertical quotas work; what Supreme Court said?
Context:
The Supreme Court in Saurav Yadav versus State of Uttar Pradesh case has clarified the position of law on the interplay of vertical and horizontal reservations.
- The case was on issues arising from the way different classes of reservation were to be applied in the selection process to fill posts of constables in the state.
What are vertical and horizontal reservations?
Vertical reservation: Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes is referred to as vertical reservation. It applies separately for each of the groups specified under the law.
Horizontal reservation refers to the equal opportunity provided to other categories of beneficiaries such as women, veterans, the transgender community, and individuals with disabilities, cutting through the vertical categories.
How are the two categories of quotas applied together?
The horizontal quota is applied separately to each vertical category, and not across the board.
- For example, if women have 50% horizontal quota, then half of the selected candidates will have to necessarily be women in each vertical quota category i.e., half of all selected SC candidates will have to be women, half of the unreserved or general category will have to be women, and so on.
Overview of the case:
- Sonam Tomar and Rita Rani had secured 276.5949 and 233.1908 marks respectively. They had applied under the categories of OBC-Female and SC-Female respectively. OBC and SC are vertical reservation categories, while Female is a horizontal reservation category.
- The two candidates did not qualify in their categories. However, in the General-Female (unreserved-female) category, the last qualifying candidate had secured 274.8298 marks, a score that was lower than Tomar’s.
What did the court decide in this case?
The court ruled against the Uttar Pradesh government, holding that if a person belonging to an intersection of vertical-horizontal reserved category had secured scores high enough to qualify without the vertical reservation, the person would be counted as qualifying without the vertical reservation, and cannot be excluded from the horizontal quota in the general category.
InstaLinks:
Prelims Link:
- Constitutional provisions wrt to Reservations.
- Overview of articles 32, 226, 14, 15 and 16.
- What are writs?
- Difference in powers of SC and HC wrt writ jurisdictions.
- Indra Sawhney case verdict.
- When can Article 32 be suspended?
- Who can empower any other court to issue writs?
Mains Link:
Reservation is not a fundamental right. Discuss in the light of recent verdict of the Supreme Court.
Sources: Indian Express.
