SC rules out US standards on OBC quota law

“We have not applied the principles of suspect legislation and we have been following the doctrine that every legislation passed by Parliament is presumed to be Constitutionally valid unless otherwise proved,” the CJI said, and whose view was shared by Justice R V Raveendran.

On the same lines, Justices Arijit Pasayat and C K Thakker said, “while interpreting the Constitutional provisions, foreign decisions do not have great determinative value … the strict scrutiny test is not applicable and indepth scrutiny has to be made to decide constitutionality or otherwise of a statute”.

Justice Dalveer, who was more categorical in refusing the argument, said, “the decisions of foreign country are not binding on Indian courts. Indian Courts have not adopted American standards of review”.

He held that for challenging the law providing OBC quota, the principles enunciated by the US Supreme Court are not strictly applicable as “cases decided by other countries are not binding but do have great persuasive value”.