Gujarat High Court had quashed ordinance on EWS benefits in 2016
The HC then stated that there was no “technical impact assessment study and quantifiable and empirical data before arriving at the conclusion that such reservation is necessary”.
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The HC had also relied on the legal precedents set earlier through Supreme Court judgments. (File Photo)An ordinance issued by the Gujarat government led by Anandiben Patel, providing for 10 per cent reservation for those with family income less than Rs 6 lakh per annum (EWS) in educational institutions and state government jobs, was quashed and set aside by the Gujarat High Court in August 2016. Patel, who is the present governor of UP, resigned as Gujarat CM the same month.
The HC then stated that there was no “technical impact assessment study and quantifiable and empirical data before arriving at the conclusion that such reservation is necessary”.
Terming the ordinance “unconstitutional”, a division bench headed by then Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy observed, “It is not open for the State to make any reservation for section of citizens in unreserved category, only on the ground that section of such category of citizens belong to economically weak… the economic criteria being fluctuating issue, the same cannot be the basis for any classification…”
The HC had also relied on the legal precedents set earlier through Supreme Court judgments.
The court concluded that when equality is the rule of law, “for creating group for the purpose of providing reservation, unless detailed scientific and technical study is made, no such reservation can be permitted”.
The Gujarat government had come out with the ordinance in a bid to cater to a long-standing demand by Patidars and other communities in the state for providing reservation in government jobs and higher education, and also in the back of the Patidar agitation.
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