Nitish Kumar Calls For Removing 50% Quota Ceiling As Supreme Court Upholds EWS Reservation

In wake of the SC verdict on the EWS quota, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar called for breaching the existing 50% reservation to SCs, STs, and Other Backward Classes.
November 9, 2022 by Akhil Oka
In wake of the SC verdict on the EWS quota, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar called for breaching the existing 50% reservation to SCs, STs, and Other Backward Classes. Speaking to the media in Patna on Tuesday, he contended that the reservation for OBCs should be expanded in proportion to their population. Thereafter, he reiterated his demand for a caste-based census across the country. In June, the Bihar government decided to conduct a caste-based headcount that will take into account people belonging to all religions and their socio-economic conditions.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar remarked, "What Supreme Court has done is perfectly fine, but it is necessary to have a caste-based population census. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are given reservation as per their population within the reservation ceiling of 50%. But OBC and EBC do not get reservation as per their population. That's why it is very good that the 10% quota was approved. The 50% limitation should be increased. It will be very good."
"We are doing the caste-based census in the state. So we will get to know each and every aspect including the financial status. Irrespective of the caste or community he belongs to, the poor will receive help," he added.
SC upholds EWS quota
In a landmark verdict on Monday, the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the 103rd Constitutional amendment providing 10% reservation to persons belonging to EWS in admissions and government jobs. The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha cleared a bill in this regard on January 8 and January 9, 2019, respectively. On September 27, a 5-judge Constitution bench comprising CJI UU Lalit, Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, S Ravindra Bhat, Bela M Trivedi, and J B Pardiwala had reserved its verdict on nearly 40 petitions challenging the EWS quota.
While the petitioners argued that economic criteria cannot be the basis for classification, the then Attorney General KK Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta vehemently defended the amendment. The CJI and Justice Bhat dissented from the majority view of Justices Maheshwari, Trivedi and Pardiwala. Thus, the 10% EWS reservation was upheld by a majority of 3:2.