EWS reservation an evolution; does not erode SC/ST, OBC rights: AG KK Venugopal to Supreme Court [Day 4]

On the fourth day of the hearing in the challenge to the validity of the Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, Attorney General for India KK Venugopal told the Supreme Court that the 10% quota to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) was not violative of the basic structure of the Constitution, since it does not disturb reservation granted to Scheduled Tribes/Scheduled Castes (SC/ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories..A five-judge Constitution Bench of Chief Justice of India UU Lalit and Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, S Ravindra Bhat, Bela M Trivedi, and JB Pardiwala is currently hearing the batch of petitions challenging the 10% EWS quota..AG Venugopal told the Bench that "EWS reservation is an evolution". "It does not erode rights given to SC ST OBC. This is independent of 50%. Question of it exceeding and violating the basic structure does not arise," he added..He went on to argue that the SC/ST categories were loaded with benefits due to affirmative action and they are not equal with EWS."EWS cannot be segregated in regard to a homogenous group such as the scheduled class. SC/ST has far additional advantages to them since they are backward compared to EWS in General category and thus cannot be segregated into a homogenous group," the AG contended..He submitted that while the EWS form 25% or 140 million of the entire Indian population, they are only 18.1% of the entire general category. Justice Ravindra Bhat, however, pointed out that the figures were based on the 2010 Sinho Commission report, and that the last census was carried out in 2011. .Defending the amendment, the AG argued that the 50% ceiling is not breached as the balance would still remain for the general category. "A large population of this country who are meritorious will be deprived to apply for jobs in government service and educational institutions. So far as 50 per cent for backward classes exist, it was held it cannot be made into a excessive reservation. EWS is not getting any excessive reservation, only the poor among the general category is getting this," he said..Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan submitted that while historical inequalities have existed, "there is no greater inequality than income inequality." "Parliament (by bringing in EWS quota) has sought to remedy this very thing," submitted Sankaranarayanan. He further argued that mere naming of the EWS as a class cannot be considered to be violative of the basic structure of the Constitution, since they are granted the same in housing and admission to schools..[EWS Quota- Day 3 hearing] We are barred from entering into domain of parliamentary debate: Supreme Court .[Read our live coverage of today's hearing]