Context:

The Supreme Court has quashed a January 2000 order of the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh that provided 100 percent reservation to Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates for the post of teachers in schools in the scheduled areas.

Scheduled Areas

• The Fifth Schedule under Article 244(1) of the Constitution of India contains provisions regarding the administration of Scheduled Areas other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.
• The ‘Scheduled Areas’ are defined as ‘such areas as the President may by order declare to be Scheduled Areas’ – as per paragraph 6(1) of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
• The President may increase the area of any Scheduled Area in a State after consultation with the Governor of that State, and make fresh orders redefining the areas which are to be Scheduled Areas in relation to any State.
• The same applies in the case of any alteration, increase, decrease, incorporation of new areas, or rescinding any Orders relating to “Scheduled Areas”.
• At present, Scheduled Areas have been declared in the States of Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana), Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Rajasthan.

The criteria for declaring Scheduled Area

• The criteria for declaring any area as a “Scheduled Area” under the Fifth Schedule are: ” Preponderance of tribal population
  • Compactness and reasonable size of the area
  • A viable administrative entity such as a district, block or taluk
  • Economic backwardness of the area as compared to the neighboring areas
• These criteria are not spelled out in the Constitution but have become well established.

The judgment:

• Asserting that the state government’s “action defies logic” and that “merit cannot be denied in toto by providing reservations”, the court concluded that reservation in the case violated Articles 14 (equality before law), 15(1) (discrimination against citizens) and 16 (equal opportunity) of the Constitution.
• There was no rhyme or reason with the State Government to resort to 100% reservation.