- In the case of Pattali Makkal Katchi vs A Mayilerumperumal and ors a Bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and B.R. Gavai has held that the Tamil Nadu Act of 2021 which had given a 10.5% reservation in educational institutions and government jobs for the Vanniyar community out of the 20% reservation which is available to the Most Backward Classes to be unconstitutional.
- The reason that was provided for striking down the reservation is that the State had failed to provide data that proved that the Vanniyars needed to be treated as a separate group within the Most Backward Classes.
- The State of Tamil Nadu ahd argued that the impugned Act merely sub classified within the 20% reservation provided to the Most backward Classes and thus, there was no requirement of any quantifiable data.
- By this, the Apex Court has upheld the Madras HC order which had quashed the Act of 2021, but simultaneously the Court has also upheld that the State does have the legislative competence to make sub-classifications between backward classes. This was done by the Court by referring to the landmark judgement of Indra Sawhney vs Union of India (1992) SCC.
- The Bench was also of the view that caste can be the starting point for providing such internal reservation, but it is the responsibility of the State government to justify that it was reasonable and also show that caste was not the sole basis for the classification.
- The Court observed that the State government was not justified in basing the classification on the letter of Justice Thanikachalam, the Chairman of the TN Backward Classes Commission, which had relied on the Janarthanam Commission Report where the data was only based on population. The Court also noted that all the members of this Commission, except the Chairman, were not in favour of the internal reservation because of the absence of the caste-based data.
- The Court has also observed that the sub-classification not being backed by relevant data made the Act violative of Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution.
- It is important to mention that via an order dated 1-11-2021, a Division Bench of the Madras HC had quashed the Act of 2021 which had subclassified the 20% reservation which was available to the Most Backward Classes to provide the Vanniyar Community a 10.5 % reservation in educational institutions and government jobs. This was done on the ground that the State Legislature lacked the legislative competence to enact this law in view of the 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2021. Through this amendment, the power of the State Government to include or exclude Backward Classes was bestowed upon the Parliament instead, under Article 342A of the Constitution.
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