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2022 (1) TMI 1373
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....under, amongst others, it has been held that after the amendment of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 For short "the Reservation Act", in the year 2012, on introduction of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Amendment Act, 2012 For short 'the Amendment Act", Respondent No. 1-Manipur University 'University' is required to follow the reservation norms of 2% for the candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste [SC], 31% for the Scheduled Tribes [ST] and 17% for the Other Backward Classes [OBC] for purposes of admission in the University. 2. To contextualize the issue raised in the present appeal, it is necessary to briefly refer to the relevant facts of the case. Respondent No. 1 - University was initially established as a 'State University' under the Manipur University Act, 1980 that came into force on 05th June, 1980. In the year 2005, the Manipur University Act was legislated, whereafter Respondent No. 1 - University was converted from a 'State University' to a 'Central University' w.e.f. 13th October, 2005. On 04th January, 2007, the Reservation Act was notified. Section 3 of the ....
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....d the Central Educational institutions (Reservation in Admission) Amendment Act, 2012. SECTION-2. Amendment of Section 2-In Section 2 of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 (5 of 2007) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), after Clause (i), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely: (ia) "Specified north-eastern region" means the area comprising of the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and the tribal areas of Assam referred to in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution; (ib) "State seats", in relation to a Central Educational Institution, means such seats, if any, out of the annual permitted strength in each branch of study or faculty as are earmarked to be filled from amongst the eligible students of the State in which such institution is situated; SECTION-3. Amendment of Section 3.-In Section 3 of the principal Act, the following provisos shall be inserted, namely:"Provided that the State seats, if any, in a Central Educational Institution situated in the tribal areas referred to in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution shall be governed by s....
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....reads as below: 18. 15% of the seats in the academic programmes offered by the University shall be reserved for students belonging to Scheduled Caste, 7-1/2 % for students belonging to Scheduled Tribe and 27% for students belonging to Other Backward Classes. Provided that nothing in this Section shall be deemed to prevent the University from making special provisions for admission of women, persons with disabilities or of persons belonging to the weaker Sections of the society and, in particular, of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the other socially and educationally backward classes of citizens. Provided further that no such special provision shall be made on the ground of domicile. [emphasis supplied] 6. While Rule 1 of Ordinance 5.4 deals with reservation of seats, Rule 2 deals with reservation of seats for students belonging to SC & ST categories. Respondent No. 1 - University has stipulated in Rule 2.1 of Ordinance 5.4 as below: 2. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes 22.5% of seats in all Courses will be reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes candidates in the following order: 2.1 15% of s....
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....ghalaya remanded the matter back to the learned Single Judge of the Manipur High Court for consideration afresh and called upon the said Court to examine and decide the percentage of reservation for SC, ST and OBC categories in the light of the second proviso to Section 3 of the Reservation Act [as amended vide Amendment Act] and the effect of Ordinance 5.2 and Ordinance 5.4, promulgated by the Respondent No. 1 - University. It is on remand that the impugned judgment dated 21st August, 2017 has been passed by the High Court of Manipur, the concluding para whereof is extracted below for ready reference: [71] This Court accordingly, concludes and directs as follows: (i) This Court holds, as also held by Hon'ble Division Bench, that the Second Proviso provides the formulae for working out the percentage of reservation for the OBCs in the Institutions located in the States within the specified north eastern region which is to be worked out on the basis of the figures of percentages for the SCs and STs existing on the date immediately preceding the date of commencement of the Act of 2006. (ii) It is this set of figures of percentages for the SCs and STs ex....
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....not be reservation for the OBCs under Clause (3) but, the extent of reservation of seats for STs & SCs shall not be reduced. (v) The Institute has to determine the percentages of reservation for admission for the SCs, STs and OBCs on the basis of the Central Educational institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 as amended in 2012 and not on the basis of any other statute. In the present case, the Manipur University has to fix the percentages of reservation for the SCs, STs and OBCs on the basis of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 as amended in 2012 and not on the basis of Section 31(1)(a) or any other provision of the Manipur University Act, 2005 as the Manipur University Act is no more the source of authority for determining the percentages of reservation after the implementation of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006. (vi) The reservation norm has to be adopted by the Manipur University by referring to the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 as amended by the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Amendment Act, 2012 only ....
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.... the amendment of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 in 2012 introduced by the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Amendment Act, 2012, Manipur University has to follow the reservation norm of 2% for the Scheduled castes, 31 % for the Scheduled Tribes and 17% for the Other Backward Classes. [emphasis supplied] 11. Ms. Punam Kumari, learned Counsel for the Appellants has assailed the impugned judgment contending that the High Court has erred in taking a view that the proviso inserted vide the Amendment Act, would be applicable to a Central Educational Institution For short "the CEI" located in States falling within the "Specified north eastern region" and that the extent of reservation would have to be worked out on the basis of the figures of percentage for the SCs and STs, as was existing on the date immediately preceding the date of commencement of the Reservation Act. It is her submission that the amendments brought about by the Amendment Act are only in respect of tribal States falling under the purview of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India For short "the Constitution" and not in respect of other ....
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....defined in Section 2(b) of the Parent Act and not the extent of reservation. 14. To sum up, it is the contention of learned Counsel for the Appellants that the Amendment Act was legislated to ensure that reservation for SC and ST candidates as prescribed in Section 3 of the Parent Act, should not be reduced from the benchmark of 15% and 7.5% respectively. Rather, the Amendment Act contemplates that the percentage of reservation for SC and ST candidates earmarked in Section 3 of the Parent Act could be increased even to the detriment of the earmarked percentage of reservation for OBC candidates, to ensure that the overall limit of 50% reservation for SC and ST candidates taken collectively, is not disturbed in any manner. 15. Mr. Sanjay Jain, learned Additional Solicitor General appeared for the Respondent No. 5-Union of India that has filed a counter affidavit through the Ministry of Human Resource Development. In its counter affidavit, Union of India has supported the findings returned in the impugned judgment to the effect that the percentage of reservation for SC and ST candidates was existing and being applied by the Respondent No. 1 - University when it was a 'State ....
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....Under Section 4(a) of the Parent Act that was subsequently repealed since the University is not an "institution established in tribal areas", referred to in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution. Only after enactment of the Amendment Act did the Respondent No. 1 - University make changes in its reservation policy and in compliance to the proviso of Section 3, inserted post amendment, the University restored the earlier norms of reservation by reserving 2% seats for SCs, 31% seats for STs and 17% seats for OBCs. Learned Counsel for the Respondent No. 7 concluded by submitting that the impugned judgment projects the correction position and does not warrant any interference by this Court. 17. Mr. Shivendra Dwivedi, learned Counsel appearing for the Respondent Nos. 8, 9 and 10 has also supported the findings returned in the impugned judgment and submitted that in compliance to the Amendment Act, Respondent No. 1 - University has rightly calculated the ratio of reservation of seats in admission to 31% for ST, 2% for SC and 17% for OBC candidates. He submitted that a plain reading of the last part of Clause (a) of the second proviso to Section 3 of the Parent Act, as amended vide Ame....
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....d in Clause (a) to the second proviso appended to Section 3 of the Parent Act, but also to Clause (b) to the second proviso. In other words, reservation made for SC and ST candidates should not be reduced to the extent below what was prevailing before the Reservation Act, 2006 came into force or after the said enactment thereby meaning that reservation for SC candidates could not be less than 15% and for ST candidates could not be less than 7.5%. Therefore, provision of only 2% reservation to SC candidates by the Respondent No. 1 - University violates the mandates of Section 3 of the Parent Act. 19. We have perused the impugned judgment and given our thoughtful consideration to the multifaceted arguments advanced by learned Counsel for the parties. 20. It is not in dispute that Respondent No. 1 - University was originally established as a 'State University' in the year 1980 under the Manipur University Act No. 8 of 1980. As a State University, Respondent No. 1 - University was following the Manipur Sate reservation policy by reserving 2% seats for SC candidates and 31% for ST candidates for admission into various courses. On 13th October, 2005, the Respondent No. 1 - ....
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....the Act establishing that University, have been showing their inability to reduce the extent of reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes prevailing therein, in order to give way for reservation of twenty-seven per cent of seats for the Other Backward Classes as stipulated under the Act. Further, the existing provisions of the Act exempt the Central Educational Institutions situated in the tribal areas referred to in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution from reservation for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, if any, but this was not intended while enacting the aforesaid Act, except in case of Minority Educational Institutions which are exempt in terms of Clause (5) of Article 15 of the Constitution. Moreover, some of the Central Educational Institutions have been finding it difficult to adhere to the time-limit of three years for creation of the requisite physical and academic infrastructure owing to various reasons beyond their control. 3. In order to remove the aforesaid practical difficulties being faced by the various Central Educational Institutions in giving effect to the provisions of the Central Educational Institutions (R....
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....d from the level obtaining on the date immediately preceding the date of the commencement of the Act; while in case of a CEI situated in other areas the percentage of seats reserved for the SCs and STs in that CEI shall stand reduced to 50 per cent. 3.5 While the Committee is convinced with the proposed amendment in Section 3, it would like to point out that there are conceptual difficulties in determining the 13 OBC reservation in the States. While the SC/ST reservation may be definite, it is the OBC reservation which may differ from State to State. The Committee is also aware of the fact that reconciliation has to be made between 50 per cent cap on reservation and 27 per cent OBC quota. The Committee is of the view that OBC percentage is to be decided by taking SC and ST reservation as a compulsory component. Since the extent of reservation is 50 per cent whatever remaining after fulfilling the SC/ST reservation may go to OBCs. 23. The reasons for omitting Clause (a) of Section 4, which exempted application of Section 3 of the Parent Act to a CEI established in tribal areas referred to in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution, was discussed in paras 3.7 and 3.8 of th....
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....R.S. Nayak v. A.R. Antulay (1984) 2 SCC 183 and Kalpana Mehta and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors. (2018) 7 SCC 1]. For our purpose, we do not intend to take notice of the said Report with an idea of determining the extent of reservation for SC and ST candidates in the light of the amendment by way of insertion to Section 3 of the Parent Act. However, the said Report can be treated as a useful tool to fathom the background in which the Amendment Act was introduced and throw light on what had weighed with the legislating authorities in proposing the amendments to the Reservation Act. 26. It can be discerned from the Statement of Objects and Reasons appended to the Amendment Bill, the background notes submitted to the Standing Committee by the Department of Higher Education and the 234th Report tabled by the Standing Committee in the Parliament that some of the CEIs, in particular those situated in North Eastern States having a predominant tribal population, expressed their inability to reduce the extent of reservation of seats for SCs and STs for ensuring reservation of 27% of the seats for the OBC category, as stipulated in the Reservation Act. It can also be seen that the provis....
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....f seats in making admissions to different courses, viz., 31% for ST candidates, 2% for SC candidates and 17% for OBC candidates which is in line with the mandate of the Amendment Act. The aforesaid understanding of the Respondent No. 1 - University is also reflected from the affidavit filed by it in opposition to the writ petition filed by the Appellants, in particular, paras 5 and 9 thereof, which are extracted below for ready reference: 5. That, in reply to the contents of the paragraph No. 4 of the writ petition under reply, it is submitted that in view of the provisions of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Amendment Act, 2012 reservation of seats in respect of reserved categories, candidates have to be 31%, 2% and 17% in respect of ST, SC and OBC candidates respectively. Thus, the seats reserved for SC have to be recalculated in accordance with the said Amendment Act, and it was the same percentage of reservation prevalent in the University prior to the commencement of the Principal Act i.e. the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006. The distribution of seats/break-up for SC/ST/OBC/UR based on the said propo....
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....hile the first proviso deals with "State seats", if any, in a CEI situated in tribal areas referred to in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution, the second proviso addresses a situation where there are no State seats in a CEI and the seats reserved for the SC/ST candidates exceeds the percentage specified under Clauses (i) and (ii) of Section 3 (viz., 15% seats for SCs plus 7.5% for STs, totalling to 22.5% seats) or if the combined seats reserved for the SC and ST candidates exceeds the sum total of the percentage as specified under Clauses (i) and (ii). Two riders have also been dovetailed in the second proviso to Section 3, namely Clauses (a) and (b). Clause (a) of the second proviso, contemplates a situation where seats referred to in the second proviso are less than 50% of the annual permitted strength on the date immediately preceding the date of commencement of the Amendment Act. Clause (b) provides for a situation where such seats are over 50% of the annual permitted strength on the date immediately preceding the date of commencement of the Amendment Act. In a situation contemplated in Clause (a) of the second proviso, a restriction has been imposed on the total percentage ....
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.... the SC and ST candidates and for determining the percentage of seats to be reserved for OBC candidates under the second proviso of Section 3, ought to be gathered from the same source and any other interpretation would lead to uncertainty. 33. To put it differently, the reference point of the period for determining the reservation quota for OBC candidates must be the same as that of the SC and ST candidates for the simple reason that for working out the reservation quota for OBC candidates would necessarily require one to find out in the first instance, as to what would be the difference between 50% of the annual permitted strength and the combined existing percentage for the SC and ST candidates, as obtained on the date immediately preceding the date of commencement of the Reservation Act. Both the issues are so interlaced that to determine the percentage of reservation for OBC candidates, one would have to undertake an exercise of determining the percentage of seats to be reserved for SC and ST candidates, all within the four corners of the second proviso inserted in Section 3 of the Parent Act. Any other interpretation sought to be assigned to the second proviso to Section 3....