JANHIT ABHIYAN versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

Citation: [2020] 7 S.C.R. 158 · Decided: 05-08-2020 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: S.A. BOBDE, R. SUBHASH REDDY, BHUSHAN RAMKRISHNA GAVAI · Disposal: Directions issued
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Judgment (excerpt)

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158
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[2020] 7 S.C.R.
JANHIT ABHIYAN
v.
UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
(Writ Petition (Civil) No. 55 of 2019)
AUGUST 05, 2020
[S. A. BOBDE, CJI, R. SUBHASH REDDY AND
B. R. GAVAI, JJ.]
Constitution of India:
Art. 143 r/w. Order XXXVIII of Supreme Court Rules, 2013 –
Writ Petition – Challenging Constitution (One Hundred and Third
Amendment) Act, 2019 – Whereby Arts. 15 and 16 were amended by
inserting Clause (6) in the provisions – The newly inserted clause
empowered the State to make provision for reservation to the extent
of 10% in favour of economically weaker sections for admission in
educational institutions and for appointment in service – The
Constitutional amendment was challenged on the grounds that it
was ultra vires as it altered the basic structure of the Constitution;
that it ran contrary to the dictum in *Indra Sawhney case etc. –
Held: The questions involved and raised in the present case involve
substantial question of law as to interpretation of the Constitution
– As such they are required to be heard by a Constitution Bench of
five Judges in view of provisions in Art. 145(3) of the Constitution
and order XXXVIII of Supreme Court Rules.
M. Nagaraj & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors. (2006) 8
SCC 212 : [2006] 7 Suppl. SCR 336 – referred to.
Arts. 15(6) and 16(6) [As inserted by Constitution (One
Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019] – State empowered to
make provision for reservation, to the extent of 10% in favour of
economically weaker sections, for admission in educational
institutions and for appointment in service – Whether the amendment
is ultra vires the Constitution – Matter referred to Constitution Bench
of Five Judges for determining the question.
*Indra Sawhney & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors. (1992)
Supp. 3 SCC 217 : [1992] 2 Suppl. SCR 454; Ashoka
Kumar Thakur v. Union of India & Ors. (2008) 6 SCC
[2020] 7 S.C.R. 158
158
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1 : [2008] 4 SCR 1; I.R. Coelho (Dead) by LRs. v. State
of Tamil Nadu (2007) 2 SCC 1 : [2007] 1 SCR 706;
Jarnail Singh & Ors. v. Lachhmi Narain Gupta & Ors.
(2018) 10 SCC 396 : [2018] 10 SCR 663; M. R. Balaji
& Ors. v. State of Mysore [1963] Suppl. 1 SCR 439;
Society for Unaided Private Schools of Rajasthan v.
Union of India & Anr. (2012) 6 SCC 1 : [2012] 2 SCR
715; Voice (Consumer Care) Council v. State of Tamil
Nadu (1996) 11 SCC 740 : [1996] 4 Suppl. SCR 647;
His Holiness Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalvaru v.
State of Kerala & Anr. (1973) 4 SCC 225 : [1973]  Suppl.
SCR 1– referred to.
Case Law Reference
[1992] 2 Suppl. SCR 454
referred to
Para 3
[2008] 4 SCR 1
referred to
Para 4
[2006] 7 Suppl. SCR 336
referred to
Para 7
[2007] 1 SCR 706
referred to
Para 7
[2018] 10 SCR 663
referred to
Para 7
[1963] Suppl. 1 SCR 439
referred to
Para 9
[2012] 2 SCR 715
referred to
Para 11
[1996] 4 Suppl. SCR 647
referred to
Para 11
[1973] Suppl. SCR 1
referred to
Para  11
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petition (Civil) No.
55 of 2019.
Under Article 32 Of The Constitution Of India
With
W.P.(C) No. 798, 212, 341, 73, 72, 76, 69, 80, 122, 106, 95, 222,
133, 178, 182, 249, 146, 168, 162, 331, 343, 419, 427, 446, 493, 854, 596,
732 Of 2019, T.P.(C) 357, 323, 539, 630, 341, 675 of 2019.
K.K. Venugopal, A.G., R. Balasubramanian, Soumya Chakraborty,
Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Dr. Rajeev Dhawan, Ms. Meenalkshi Arora,
M.N. Rao, Sr. Advs., Ms. Deepali Dwivedi, Ms. Siddhi Padia, Satya
Mitra, Shadan Farasat, Ms. Jahnavi Sindhu, Ms. Shruti Narayan,
JANHIT ABHIYAN v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
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160
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[2020] 7 S.C.R.
Mrs. Niranjana Singh, Ms. Shalini Kumar, Ms. Sangeeta Kumar, Dinesh
P Rajbhar, Anzu. K. Varkey, Dr. K.S. Chauhan, P.K. Jayakrishnan, Ravi
Prakash, Ajit Kumar Ekka, Chand Kiran, K.K.L. Gautam, Arundhati
Chakroborty, A.K. Suman, P.S. Nerwal, Rahul Mohod, Sanjeev Malhotra,
Akash Kakade, Swetab Kumar, Somanatha Padhan, Rahul Narayan,
Prasanna S., Yadav Narender Singh, Ashutosh Yadav, Abhishek Singh,
Jagdish Parshad, Roy Abraham, A.N. Rajan Babu, Ms. Reena Roy,
Ms. Seema Jain, Himinder Lal, Dr. M.P. Raju,  S.S. Nehra, Rajendra
Verma, Vikrant Nehra, R.K. Gupta, Senthil Jagadeesan, Ms. Aishwarya
Kane, Ms. Gayatri Verma, Ms. Sonakshi Malhan, Ms. Suriti Chowdhary,
Ms. Mrinal  Kanwar, Sudhansu Palo, Gautam Das, Sanjeev Kumar, A.
Subba Rao, K.L.D.S. Vinober, Damodar Solanki, Ms. Manju Jetley,
Nirmal Kumar Ambastha, Namit Saxena, Panshul Chandra, M. Vijaya
Bhaskar, Murari Lal,  Sunil Kumar, R.S.M. Kalky, Sandeep Malik,
D. Mahesh B
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