While the reservation system was meant to be a temporary measure to cover the infancy period of Independent India, it is now being endlessly extended and thereby running counter to the object of eliminating caste distinctions, the Madras High Court said on Wednesday (DMK v. Rajesh Bhushan and ors).

The entire concept of reservation as envisioned by the Constituent Assembly while framing the Constitution of India may have been turned on its head through repeated amendments and the veritable re-invigoration of the caste system even extending it to denominations where it does not exist, the Court said.

This is being done instead of empowering citizens so that merit may ultimately decide matters as to admission, appointment and promotion, it added.

The Bench proceeded to opine,

"Rather than the caste system being wiped away, the present trend seems to perpetuate it by endlessly extending a measure that was to remain only for a short duration to cover the infancy and, possibly, the adolescence of the Republic. Though the life of a nation state may not be relatable to the human process of aging, but at over-70, it ought, probably, to be more mature."

The observation was made as a footnote in the order passed by a Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice PD Audikesavalu in the case concerning the reservation of State-surrendered All India Quota (AIQ) for Other Backward Classes (OBC).

The Court today dropped contempt proceedings against the Central government, observing that the 27% OBC reservation offered by Centre in its July 29 notification was permissible.

The Court, however, has doubted the validity of the 10% reservation extended in the same notification by the Centre to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and disallowed its implementation unless the Centre gets the Supreme Court's approval for the same.

[Read Order]