Constitution (105th Amendment) Act

Subject – Polity

Context – Madras High Court invalidated the separate reservation of 10.5% for the Vanniyar community

Concept –

The Constitutional 105th Amendment will amend clauses 1 and 2 of Article 342A and also introduce a new clause 3. The bill will also amend the Articles 366 (26c) and 338B (9).
It is designed to clarify that the states can maintain the “state list” of OBCs as was the system before the Supreme Court judgement.
The “state list” will be completely taken out of the ambit of the President and will be notified by the state assembly.
As per the Indian Constitution, Articles 15 (4), 15 (5), and 16 (4) confer power on the State Government to declare and identify the list of socially and educationally backward classes. As a practice, separate OBC lists are drawn up by the Central Government and each State concerned.

Significance of the 105th Amendment

The Bill seeks to restore the power of State governments to identify OBCs that are socially and educationally backward.
The Union government’s argument has been that the intent of the 102nd amendment was only to create a Central List that would be applied only in the Central government and its institutions. It had nothing to do with the State Lists of backward classes or the State governments’ powers to declare a community backward.
The bill will benefit around 671 OBC communities because if the state list had been abolished, nearly 671 OBC communities would have lost access to reservations in educational institutions and in appointments.
This Bill furthers social empowerment. It also reflects our Government’s commitment to ensuring dignity, opportunity and justice to the marginalised sections.

Constitutional Provisions for identification of OBCs:

According to the Constitution of India, Articles 15(4), 15(5), and 16(4) confer power on a state to identify and declare the list of socially and educationally backward classes.
As a matter of practice, separate OBC lists are drawn up by the Centre and each state concerned.
The amendment was thought necessary because the SC, in its order on Maratha reservation, upheld the 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act.
- It inserted Articles 338B and 342 A (with two clauses) after Article 342, which said the President of India, in consultation with the Governors, would specify socially and educationally backward classes, taking away the powers of State governments to do so.
The 105^th Amendment aims at restoring the power of the States and the Union Territories to make their own OBC list.