Written by: Arushi Bansal (Intern)
Edited by: Anubhav Yadav (Content Head & Developer)
The bill was introduced to restore states’ right on the list. The change is important to reinstate powers of the State governments to keep a nation listing of OBCs which turned into taken away through a Supreme Court interpretation in May this year. In continued monsoon, the authorities introduced the 127th Amendment Bill in Parliament to clarify few provisions within side the 102nd Constitutional modification bill to repair powers of the state to pick out backward classes. The Constitution permits States and Union Territories to make their list of socially and educationally backward classes. The Lok Sabha exceeds the modification invoice. The Opposition also supported the bill in the parliament. The invoice became handed with 187 votes favouring and no vote in opposition to it inside the Upper House. The forthcoming Assembly election will bring all the parties together where this is concerned.
Before the session commenced in the morning, the leaders of the Opposition met in Rajya Sabha. Opposition is resolute to support the 127th Constitutional Bill as an “exception”. They also decided that they will protest on another affairs but continue to support and cooperate with this important bill. A two-thirds majority of the members present and voting in the House is required during the proceedings. The opposition’s support is pivotal for the Bill. The 127th Constitutional Amendment Bill seeks to amend two of three articles of the Constitution i.e, clause1 and clause2 of Article 342A, and introduce clause 342A (3) to allow states to maintain their State list of SEBCs. The States would be able to notify the backward classes without having to refer to the National Commission for Backward Classes.
The Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench heard the Maratha Quota Case, ruling that the President of India had the right to define and specify SEBCs. The Supreme Court’s majority decision went against the Union government’s position that the 102nd Constitutional Amendment had no impact on state power. The Union Government had filed a petition for judicial review of the 102nd Amendment’s judicial interpretation. The power of the President is to specify the socially and educationally backward classes in the Central List for the Central Government. This is in line with the argument made by the Attorney General for India in the Maratha quota case that the power of the President is only for the Central List. The legislation will allow states to notify OBC and SEBCs in the state Assembly once it gets the President’s approval.
The Minister said that the current Constitutional Amendment Bill was historic legislation and should be considered as the 105th Constitution Amendment Bill after being recompense. Conclusively, the Bill aims to accomplish the basic goals and spirit of our Constitution-Editors to frame a country in which citizens could get social, economic, and political justice. The Bill was without exception passed by the house. The monsoon session began on July 19 and this was the first proper debate.