Reservation policies are necessary to ensure justice within the broader category of disadvantaged people, said Chief Justice of India BR Gavai while speaking at the Oxford Union on Wednesday.
The CJI said that reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) is not a dilution of the reservation policy, but a much-needed step to ensure justice within the broader category of the disadvantaged. The CJI was speaking about the Indian Constitution and the changing nature of social justice.
Inclusion Within Inclusion
The Chief Justice was in Oxford Union speaking about the theme: 바카라From Representation to Realisation.바카라 He said that reservations were not designed just to provide representation, but meant for the empowerment of those people who had historically excluded from social structures of power. Within these communities, some groups have benefited more than others. Sub-classification, he added, helps address this imbalance by identifying 바카라the most backward among the backwards바카라, and ensuring they receive a fair share of representation in public employment and education.
바카라Sub-classification does not question the success of reservation it strengthens it,바카라 the Chief Justice remarked, reiterating that equitable distribution within disadvantaged communities is constitutionally valid and ethically justified.
Davinder Singh Case
CJI Gavai바카라s remarks come in light of the fact that he was part of the Constitution Bench ruling in which the Supreme Court upheld the right of the state to create sub-classifications among SCs for targeted benefits. In his judgement, Justice Gavai had agreed that affirmative action should be nuanced, especially if there is proof that benefits have been disproportionately accessed by a few castes.
CJI Gavai said that 바카라for India바카라s most vulnerable citizens, the Constitution is not merely a legal charter or a political framework. It is a feeling, a lifeline, a quiet revolution etched in ink.바카라
Recalling his journey from a municipal school to the office of the Chief Justice of India, CJI Gavai said that the Constitution 바카라has been a guiding force바카라. 바카라This is what the Constitution did. It told the people of India that they belong, that they can speak for themselves, and that they have an equal place in every sphere of society and power,바카라 he added.
Justice Gavai, who authored a concurring opinion in that case, had applied the 바카라creamy layer바카라 concept even within SC/ST reservations to prevent monopolisation of benefits. He also framed sub-classification as part of the Constitution바카라s larger promise to provide real and substantive equality, not just formal representation. He credited India바카라s constitutional model for allowing peaceful accommodation of diversity and fostering inclusive democracy through legal innovation.
Dr B R Ambedkar 바카라saw representation as a necessary check바카라a system of constitutional checks and balances바카라to guard against the arbitrary power and social hegemony of dominant caste and class groups바카라, said the Chief Justice.
바카라He understood that in a society where inequality had been systemically entrenched, change would not come naturally or voluntarily. Therefore, the constitutional text itself had to carry the weight of a mandate바카라 a mandate to protect, to empower, and to ensure representation,바카라 he added.
He also said recent judicial interventions on gender justice, disability rights, and transgender protections also stemmed from the idea of inclusive representation in India바카라s reservation policy.
