To get SC quota in Puducherry, what matters is not your residence proof, but a certificate to show that your caste originated in that place. Strange, but fortunately, the rule that remained in existence in the Union Territory for almost a decade was struck down last week by the Supreme Court.
Deciding an appeal by Puducherry Scheduled Caste People Welfare Association, a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice RM lodha warned the Government not to create artificial distinctions among Scheduled Castes based on their origin as the Constitution recognised them by virtue of their residence alone.
It was by separate Government orders passed on August 5, 2005, the Government of Puducherry introduced reservation to SCs in jobs and professional courses. But the order sought to create a class within Scheduled Castes, extending reservation “only to Scheduled Caste origins of the UT”.
The Bench, also comprising Justices Madan B lokur and Kurian Joseph found it strange how such a distinction could be introduced in the first place, and that too by way of an executive order when no such classification existed for SCs in the Constitution. These two grounds proved to be the final nail on the coffin as the Court buried the 2005 orders as unconstitutional.
The Association comprised permanent resident SCs of Puducherry, who were denied reservation to jobs, promotion, and education under the 2005 orders. The Court examined the Presidential Order of 1964 to grant relief in favour of the Association. Under the 1964 Order, castes, races or tribes so far as they are “resident” in that UT were deemed as Scheduled Caste in Puducherry and remained entitled for reservation benefits as well.
The contrast in the definition of SCs under the presidential order and the 2005 Government Orders was distinct enough for the Court to see. The bench said, “The Government Orders have confined reservation benefits to SCs origins of the UT of Puducherry. The Presidential Order does not speak of origins….it only speaks of resident.”
Writing the judgment for the bench, CJI lodha held that the act of the Puducherry government was wrong in law. “The interpretation of ‘resident’ in the Presidential Order as ‘of origin’ amounts to altering the Presidential Order….It is not open to the executive to do anything directly or indirectly which may lead to any change in the Presidential Order,” he said.
The bench further declared that the UT could not venture into making any inclusion, exclusion, alteration or modification to the Presidential Order that fell squarely in the domain of the Parliament. Article 341 empowered Parliament alone to vary the list of SCs. The executive order, as in the present case, was thus impermissible, it held.