Sub-classification within Scheduled Castes in India: Constitutionally Permitted, Doctrinally Incomplete

Abstract

The Supreme Court’s ruling in State of Punjab v. Davinder Singh has stirred afresh the debate on sub-classification within the Scheduled Caste category in India. But it has done something more than that. It has forced a reckoning with the very nature of equality in India’s reservation jurisprudence – a reckoning that was perhaps overdue.

This paper traces the shifting approach of the Supreme Court over time on the issue of subclassification of reservation, arriving finally at the overruling of E.V. Chinnaiah and the central recognition is that a constitutional commitment to equality cannot be exhausted by formally uniform treatment of groups that are, in fact, internally unequal.

While the paper endorses the constitutional validity of sub-classification, it argues that Davinder Singh is doctrinally incomplete in three respects. First, the distinction between identification and benefit distribution under Article 341 is analytically thin. Second, the endorsement of creamy layer logic for SCs sits in an unresolved tension with Indra Sawhney. Third, there is no workable standard for judicial review of State sub-classification exercises. The conclusion drawn is straightforward i.e. the judgment’s constitutional promise will remain unrealized unless these gaps are addressed through legislative design and judicial scrutiny.