The Supreme Court has set aside the 10.5 per cent reservation given to the Vanniyar community of Tamil Nadu. The apex court, while delivering its verdict on Thursday, said that caste cannot be the sole basis for granting reservation to any community. The Vanniyar community is considered the most backward community in Tamil Nadu. Justice L. A bench of Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai passed the order while upholding the Madras High Court’s decision on November 1. The Tamil Nadu government and PMK had filed a petition against the High Court’s decision.
Justice Nageswara Rao said that this law made by the Tamil Nadu government in 2021 is a misuse of the powers of the Constitution. He said that no ground was made that Vanniyar community should be kept in a separate category. Declaring the Vanniyar community as the most backward community in February 2021, a law to provide 10.5 percent reservation was passed in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. This quota was to be given out of the 20 per cent reservation fixed for MBCs. Soon after this decision, it was challenged in the High Court and the Supreme Court. Then the top court refused to hear, saying that the High Court would decide in this regard.
The High Court had rejected the reservation and then on challenging its order, the top court has also upheld its decision. The High Court, in its judgment last year, had held that the 10.5 per cent reservation given by the AIADMK government to the Vanniyar community does not make any basis. The court had said that there is no data to prove that Vanniyar community belongs to the most backward class for grant of reservation. After this the Tamil Nadu government and PMK challenged the High Court order in the Supreme Court.