INTRODUCTION:
• ARTICLE 16 of the Constitution of India, 1950 (COI) is given under Part III of the Constitution. ARTICLE 16 is a Fundamental Right which guarantees equal opportunity in public employments of state to all the citizens of India. It prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence, or any of them in respect of any employment or office under the State.
■ ARTICLE 16 ensures that all citizens have equal access to opportunities in government employment and prohibits unfair treatment based on certain characteristics.
• Additionally, ARTICLE 16 allows for reservations to be made in public employment for disadvantaged groups, such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes, to address historical and social inequalities.
ARTICLE 16: Equality of opportunity in matters of public employment;
• CLAUSE (1): Gives equality of opportunity to all citizens for employment to any office under the state.
• CLAUSE (2): 7 grounds given, in ARTICLE 15 only 5 grounds were given race, religion, caste, sex and place of birth but in ARTICLE 16, 2 extra grounds i.e. Descent and Residence are also given.
• CLAUSE (3): provides exception for reservation on basis of residence if it is a backward class and not adequately represented in the State services.
• CLAUSE (4): provides reservation in jobs for backward class of citizens not adequately represented.
• CLAUSE (4A): is added by 77th Amendment, which provides reservation in promotion, 85th amendment added reservation in promotion with consequential seniority.
• CLAUSE (4B): is added by 81st amendment, added carry forward rule and removed the 50% ceiling on reservation in that regard.
• CLAUSE (5): For appointment of incumbent of religious institutions (priest in a temple, Bishop in a church etc), these provisions shall not apply.
• CLAUSE (6): added by 103rd amendment provides for Reservations for Economically Weaker Sections.
Scope and objectives of Article 16:
• ARTICLE 16 was inserted in the Indian Constitution in order to ensure equality of opportunities in public employment. CLAUSES (1) and (2) of this ARTICLE states that none of the Indian citizens shall face any kind of discrimination relating to employment services. These are the two main CLAUSES of this ARTICLE as they lay down provisions for Equality of Employment opportunities and prohibits or eliminates unnecessary compartmentalization in the name of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, or certain others. This ARTICLE was introduced for uplifting the backward and marginalised sections of society. Therefore, it allows the State to make any laws prescribing the requirements "for a class or classes of employment or appointment to an office under the Central Government or any local authority." ARTICLE 16(4) is an important CLAUSE which acts as an important provision for the Government for the formation of any provision for the reservation of appointments in favour of these backward class of citizens who are "not adequately represented in the services under the State". Thus, this ARTICLE is beneficial for the welfare of the backward classes of citizens of India.
Features of Article 16 of the Indian Constitution:
There are some important features of ARTICLE 16 that needs to be kept in mind while reading this ARTICLE, which are as follows-
• Equality of opportunities is guaranteed to all: As per the provisions of this ARTICLE, all the citizens of India are given equal opportunities in the field of employment.
• State's Role in Providing Equal Opportunity: It means that the State is responsible for creating job opportunities for all citizens, regardless of their background, who shall have an equal chance to compete for public employment.
• Prohibiting unnecessary discrimination in employment: This ARTICLE also prevents all kinds of unnecessary discrimination by the State in public employment jobs and appointments on the basis of caste, race, region, place of birth and residency.
• Exceptions to equality: The State is allowed to create provisions for the reservation of appointments or postings for any underprivileged classes or groups of citizens who are insufficiently represented in the State's services.
• Not applicable to non-citizen: This provision regarding reservation is applicable for the citizens of India only. Non-citizens who come from other countries will not get this reservation benefit under ARTICLE 16. This Article explicitly states that "every citizen" of the country can only get benefits as per the provision of this ARTICLE.
• Power of Parliament: The Indian Parliament has the authority to pass legislation to make the provisions of ARTICLE 16 legally binding.
Kalelkar Commission (1953):
• President appointed the First Backward Classes Commission (popularly known as the 'Kaka Kalelkar Commission') under ARTICLE 340(1) of the Constitution, which inter alia, had the mandate of identifying methods of improving the condition of socially and educationally backward classes.
Mandal Commission (1979):
• The Second Backward Classes Commission (headed by B.P. Mandal) was set up under ARTICLE 340(1) which was tasked with determining the criteria for defining the socially and educationally backward classes.
• After an exhaustive survey, the Mandal Commission identified 52% of the Indian population (3743 castes) as "Socially and Economically Backward Classes" (SEBCs).
• Subsequently, it recommended a 27% reservation for SEBCs in addition to the previously existing 22.5% reservation for SC/STS.
• Prime Minister V.P. Singh issued office of memorandum on AUGUST 13, 1990 and reserved 27% seats for the Socially & Backward classes as OBC Reservation.
√ CASE LAW: Indra Sahwney v. Union of India (1993):
• The concept of a creamy layer was laid down and it was directed that such a creamy layer be excluded while identifying backward classes.
• Reservation was capped at 50% and no reservations in promotions were allowed.
• Over ruled T.Devadasan v. Union of India (1964) by declaring carry forward rule as constitutional as long as it does not exceed the 50% ceiling.
77th Amendment (1995):
• ARTICLE 16(4A) added by which the Government nullified the effect of Indra Sawhney. ARTICLE 16(4A) allowed the State to provide reservations to a SC/ST in matters of promotion, as long as the State believes that the SC/ST is not adequately represented in government services.
• After reservation in promotion was constitutionally recognized, it led to a situation where reserved category candidates, who were promoted over general class counterparts, became their senior due to earlier promotion.
• This anomaly was addressed by two judgments:
√ CASE LAWS: UOI v. Virpal Singh (1995) and Ajit Singh v. State of Punjab (1996), which introduced the concept of a Catch-Up Rule.
√ CASE LAW: S Vinod Kumar v Union of India (1996)
• Held that relaxations in qualifying marks in matters of reservation in promotion was not permissible under ARTICLE 16(4) in view of the command contained in ARTICLE 335 of the Constitution. ARTICLE 335 states that reservations are subject to the principle of administrative efficiency.
81st Amendment (2000):
• The Government introduced ARTICLE 16(4B), which allowed reservation in promotion to breach the 50% ceiling set on regular reservations. The Amendment allowed the State to carry forward unfilled vacancies from previous years. (Carry forward rule).
82nd Amendment (2000) - The State added a proviso to ARTICLE 335.
85th Amendment (2001) -
In the 85th Amendment, Parliament amended ARTICLE 16(4A) and introduced the principle of Consequential Seniority to promoted SC/ST candidates and negated the Catch up rule.
ARTICLE 335: Claims of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to services and posts The claims of the members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes shall be taken into consideration, consistently with the maintenance of efficiency of administration, in the making of appointments to services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of a State
• Provided that nothing in this article shall prevent in making of any provision in favour of the members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes for relaxation in qualifying marks in any examination or lowering the standards of evaluation, for reservation in matters or promotion to any class or classes of services or posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of a State.
√ CASE LAW: Nagaraj v UOI (2006)
• In Nagaraj, the petitioners challenged the 77th, 81st, 82nd and 85th Amendments before the Supreme Court.
• The five-judge Bench upheld the constitutional validity of Reservation in Promotion to SCs/STs. It upheld the Consequential Seniority Rule under ARTICLE 16(4A), the Carry Forward Rule under ARTICLE 16(4B) and the Proviso to ARTICLE 335.
• However, the court noted that ARTICLE 16.4A and 4B are enabling provisions and there is no automatic right to reservation in promotion for SC/STs.
• The Court held that for reservation in promotion to be valid, the State has to meet three compelling requirements:
1. 'Demonstrate the backwardness' of the SC/ST.
2. Prove that the SC/ST is inadequately represented in relevant public employment.
3. Maintain the overall efficiency of administration.
After Nagaraj
• Following Nagaraj, which introduced the three controlling conditions, various High Courts and the Supreme Court struck down Statutes and Rules extending reservation in promotion policies. The various courts ruled that the State had failed to furnish enough data to meet the controlling conditions. In particular, the courts criticized the State for failing to demonstrate backwardness and/or insufficient representation.
CONCLUSION:
• The right to equality is considered as the most important Fundamental Right. It guarantees equal opportunity and upliftment of people belonging to economically and socially weaker sectors of society. This also brought in the concept of equal pay and equal work under public employment. This provision was important for the overall growth of the nation and for the allocation of equal opportunities to all.
