Got a problem - just amend it !

Credits: Arun Shouries new book “Falling over Backwards” provided a summary of these amendments. I am just following the trails from that book and other internet resources.

The Indian constitution has been amended 93 times. The most significant ones have been related to the quota policy. This is because by nature numerical quotas fly in the face of the constitutional guarantees to right of equality. Led by powerful OBC politicians, any judgement by the supreme court in favour of justice and upholding of the law is instantly met with an amendment. Since OBCs are the largest votebank in India they had little by way of opposition. Let us take a closer look.

Amendment #76

 

We have seen that the very first amendment to the Indian constitution was due to the quota situation prevailing in the Madras state.http://realitycheck.wordpress.com/2006/06/22/the-first-amendment/

That was 1951.

Fast forward to 1993.

The Government of India had decided to implement Mandal commissions’ recommendations in 1990. Countrywide protests followed, and a spate of litigations were filed in the Supreme Court. These petitions were then grouped together under Indira Sawhney Vs Union of India. The Supreme Court then delivered a majority judgement in this landmark case in 1992. 

• Validated the Mandal recommendations 
• Emphatically states that the creamy layer must be removed
• The total quota cannot exceed 50% under any circumstances

Now in the year 1993, Tamilnadu already had 69% quota for 13 years. So, Indira Sawhney created some problems. Following that the Madras HC ruled that.

• While the 69% could stay for the year 1993, from 1994 session onwards the quota had to be cut down to 50% (like the rest of India)

The concerned TN government (then under Jayalalithaa) then filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the HC order. The SC upheld the Madras HC order and reiterated that quotas cannot exceed 50%. The constitution does not allow quotas to exceed 50%. Dr Ambedkar himself had said that, “quotas are an exception to the rule of equality, and that under no circumstances can the exception be allowed to swallow the rule“. So now we had a problem, if the government did not act within a few months, Tamilnadu would have to reduce its quota by 19%.

Immediately, the TN government called a special meeting of the TN assembly on 9th November 1993. The legislators then passed a bill, asking the central government to immediately amend the constitution of India to allow TN to continue with its 69% quota. Then the TN government passed a bill in the assembly continuing its 69% quota and forwarded it to the central government (then under PV Narasimha Rao of the Congress Party). This whole exercise took till July. Now time was running out because the admissions would start in just a few days.

The central government swung into action and urged the president (SD Sharma) to give assent to the constitutional amendment bill. The president gave the nod. Later Tamilnadu petitioned the government to include the amendment in the 9th Schedule, so that it could not be challenged in courts. That too was conceded without much fuss by the government.

The constitution was thus amended for the  76th time allowing the TN government to persist with its 69% quota. This cannot be challenged in court. I dont know if any other state has this luxury.

PS: Interesting tidbit, Did you know that Arjun Singh was suspended from the Congress Party by PV Narasimha Rao ?

Full Text of the amendment :

http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend76.htm