SC upholds High Court order on reservation for SC, ST in Manipur University

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the Manipur High Court order, which said the Manipur University is required to follow the reservation norms of 2 per cent for the candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), 31 per cent for the Scheduled Tribes (ST), and 17 per cent for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) for purposes of admission.

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Hima Kohli said :”In the instant case, the respondent No.1 – University has clarified in its affidavit that prior to commencement of the Reservation Act, the prevalent percentage of reservation for ST and SC candidates was 31 per cent and 2 per cent respectively. Nothing to the contrary has been brought forth by the appellant.”

The bench endorsed the view taken by the high court that after the amendment to the Reservation Act, the university had to follow the reservation norms for candidates — 2 per cent for SCs, 31 per cent for STs, and 17 per cent for OBCs.

It noted that appellants counsel strenuously argued that the meaning ascribed to the words “date immediately preceding the date of commencement of the 2006 Act”, used in Clause (a) of the second proviso to Section 3 should be taken to mean the date just before the enactment of the Amendment Act, i.e., a rollback to the situation as was prevalent when the Reservation Act had come into force — 15 per cent for SCs, 7.5 per cent for STs and 27 per cent for OBC candidates.