India

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Union government to decide “with reasonable dispatch” setting up a Delimitation Commission to examine the need to increase seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Lok Sabha and state assemblies in view of the addition of scores of communities to the list of SCs and STs after 2001 when the last delimitation exercise was carried out.“The above circumstance makes it abundantly necessary for the Union government to take recourses under the Delimitation Act, 2002, for the purpose of ensuring that provisions of Articles 330 and 332 are duly implemented.

The central government shall take a decision with reasonable dispatch,” the bench said.When additional solicitor general K M Natraj informed the court that nearly 51 communities were added after 2001 to the list of STs till the last census took place in 2011, the bench said many communities have also been added to the SC list during the same period.“Absent the exercise of delimitation under Delimitation Act, 2002, communities who have since been added to the SC and ST list could not be in a position to obtain the benefit in terms of political representation which is contemplated under Articles 330 and 332 (proportional representation in Lok Sabha and assemblies respectively),” it said, referring to the constitutional obligation to ensure adequate representation for SCs and STs in legislatures.“This is a matter which must engage the serious attention of the Union government.

The manner in which this exercise should be completed would be determined within the purview of the Delimitation Act, 2002, but would require legislative amendments, particularly having regard to the first and second schedule of Representation of the People Act,” it said.The CJI-led bench, however, clarified, “This judgment shall not be construed as interfering with the election schedule which the EC would decide in respect of conducting elections to Parliament or assemblies.

The need to hold elections on time is an overarching constitutional mandate and would, therefnullnullore, not be affected by the direction to the Union government.”What started as an examination of proportionate representation to Limboo and Tamang tribes after their inclusion in the ST list in Sikkim, which already has 38% reservation of seats for STs in the 32-member assembly, changed course over the hearing to lead to an examination of the need to reserve more seats in view of their increased numbers.

It led to a three-day-long dictation of judgment in open court by CJI D Y Chandrachud.The bench of CJI Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra dropped the earlier resolve to give Limboos and Tamangs proportionate representation in Sikkim assembly given the state’s historical background and assimilation in the Indian Union, after a forceful intervention by senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi who explained relevant constitutional provisions to urge the bench to hold its hand.But the bench ended up by asking the Union government to set up a Delimitation Commission under the Delimitation Act, 2002, to examine proportionate representation to SCs and STs in terms of reserving seats for them in state assemblies because of addition of new communities to the lists.





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