EWS Quota Case: 103rd Amendment Changes Constitution's Identity - Lawyers Argue In Supreme Court [Day 3]

The Supreme Court Constitution Bench, comprising Chief Justice of India UU Lalit, Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, S Ravindra Bhat, Bela M Trivedi and JB Pardiwala, on Wednesday, continued hearings on the cases challenging the constitutional validity of reservation for Economically Weaker Sections. 

• Sr. Adv. P Wilson submitted that weaker section under Article 46 were not the same as those under Articles 15(6) and 16(6) and that the SCs and STs had earned a special mention under Article 46. 
• He further  stated that 103rd amendment was an infiltration as Article 46 had never envisioned upper caste to fall within its meaning. 
• To supplement his submissions, Sr. Adv. Wilson made reference to State Of Kerala &Anr v. N. M. Thomas &Ors.
• It was further submitted that the explanation to the newly added articles, which states that "economically weaker sections" shall be such as may be notified by the State from time to time, breached the theory of 'guided power' as provided under M.Nagaraj& Others v. Union Of India.
• To this Justice Bhat remarked–"Let us take this argument forward. So then the government only has to set up another commission to determine EWS. That can be remedied. Is that satisfactory?"
• Sr. Adv. Wilson answered in negative and continued his submissions stating that the 103rd amendment violated the Equality code and that the court didn't need to wait for a potential threat to occur. He concluded by stating–

"To sum up, equality that our forefathers thought of has been destroyed. That 10% also matters a lot when equality is concerned."