HC scraps quota hike beyond 50% ceiling in Bihar

A division bench of Patna HC struck down a pair of laws brought by the Bihar govt last year to raise job and education quotas for Dalits, backward classes and tribals from 50% to 65%, terming these “ultra vires: or beyond the powers of the state and a violation of the right to equality guaranteed by Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution.
Both the Bihar Reservation (for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Back Classes) (Amendment) Act, 2023, and the Bihar (in ad mission in educational institutions) Reservation (Amendment) Act, 2023, passed by the assembly and notified last November were purportedly based on the findings of the govt’s caste survey, which itself went through multiple legal hurdles before being completed. The HC bench said the increase in reservations beyond 50% was “bad in law based on the principles of equality emanating from the Constitution, as laid down by the wealth of precedents discussed in this judgment”.
The bench of Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Harish Kumar said, “That the state attempted no indepth study or analysis before providing for enhancement of the reservation percentage is established from the records. That the state proceeded on the mere proportion of population of different categories, as against their numerical representation in govt services and educational institutions, is the admitted position and the pivotal argument. That this argument works against the core principles of Articles 15(4) and 16(4) is a given fact.”
The new laws individually raised the reservation percentage for SCs from 16% to 20%, STs from 1% to 2%, BCs from 15% to 18%, and EBCs from 20% to 25%. This was to be applicable to govt jobs and admission to state-run educational institutions in Bihar. The increase in reservation limits cumulatively exceeded the ceiling of 50%, set three decades ago by a nine-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney vs Union of India case. The ceiling remains a constitutional benchmark for reservation laws governing public employment. The petitioners alleged caste-wise socio-economic reports emanating from the caste survey of Bihar were published on Nov 7 last year, whereas the bill proposing amendments to reservation limits was tabled two days thereafter.
“Hence, imminently no analysis for ascertaining backwardness was carried out by the state govt as was stated in the preamble of the two impugned amended laws,” the petitioners argued.