ASHOKA KUMAR THAKUR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) RESERVATION for admission in educational institutions or for public employment has been a matter of challenge in various litigations in this Court as well as in the High Courts. Diverse opinions have been expressed in regard to the need for reservation. Though several grounds have been raised to oppose any form of reservation, few in independent India have voiced disagreement with the proposition that the disadvantaged sections of the population deserve and need "special help". But there has been considerable disagreement as to which category of disadvantaged sections deserve such help, about the form this help ought to take and about the efficacy and propriety of what the government has done in this regard.

(2.) PANDIT Jawaharlal Nehru, who presided over the Congress Expert committee emphasized before the Constituent Assembly that the removal of socio-economic inequalities was the highest priority. He believed that only this could make India a casteless and classless society, without which the Constitution will become useless and purposeless. The Founding Fathers of the Constitution were thus aware of the ripples of inequality present in society, decried the notion of caste and ensured that the Constitutional framework contained adequate safeguards that would ensure the upliftment of the socially and educationally backward classes of citizens, thus creating a society of equals. The interpretation of the term "socially and educationally backward", and its constituent classes, was left for future generations to decide.

(3.) EQUALITY has also been enshrined in various international instruments, such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human rights. Its Preamble speaks of "the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family", and of "the equal rights of men and women. "