Madras HC quashes 10.5 pc Vanniyar quota, govt to move SC

Holding that the State government has not considered the caste-wise population to provide special internal reservation for Vanniyars, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Monday set aside the 10.5 per cent internal reservation granted to the community under the Most Backward Classes (MBC) quota. Advocate General R Shunmugasundaram said the government would move an appeal before the Supreme Court. 

“Tamil Nadu special reservation of seats in educational institutions including private educational institutions and appointments or posts in the services under the State within the reservation for the Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities Act, 2021, is declared as ultra vires the provisions of the Constitution,” a division bench of Justice M Duraiswamy and Justice K Murali Shankar ruled. 

In February, the then AIADMK government had passed the Bill granting special internal reservations to Vanniyars, including six sub-sections, and it was implemented by the current DMK government. Hearing a batch of petitions against this, the bench held that passing the Act without any quantifiable data on population, socio-educational status and representation of the backward classes in the services “is illegal in the eye of law”. 

The petitioners contended that the 10.5 per cent internal reservation for Vanniyars alone, beyond the proportion of their existing population and depriving the constitutional reservation of 115 other MBC castes in general and 68 DNC communities in particular, was arbitrary, illegal, discriminatory and in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution. 

Quota can be only on basis of class not caste: Petitioners 

“The reservation could be given only on the basis of class, not by the caste. Further, without there being any census, the state passed a bill for reservation of 10.5 per cent for Vanniyars under MBC without considering caste wise population and there is no data available with the state to invoke the enabling provisions in the Constitution to provide internal reservation,” the petitioners argued. 

Appearing for one of the petitioners, senior counsel KM Vijayan contended that the Act violated Article 338-B of the Constitution, wherein the domain of identifying Socially and Economically Backward Classes (SEBC) vested with the President. “The sub-classification of MBC into Vanniyar, Denotified Communities and others in the ratio of 10.5 per cent, 7 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively lacks any objective criteria. The 10.5 per cent reservation for one caste while 7 per cent for 93 Denotified Communities and 2.5 per cent for 22 MBC castes, is blatantly discriminatory and unconstitutional,” he argued. 

Advocate General R Shunmugasundaram submitted that the caste-wise population data enumerated in 1983 by the Ambasankar Commission was the only authenticated data available as of now. 

Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) spokesperson and senior advocate K Balu urged the bench to stay the verdict for a week to enable students and employees who got admissions and appointments under the Act to approach the Supreme Court. However, the court rejected it.