Political representation of SCs/STs needs “serious attention” of Centre: SC
The Supreme Court accepted the Centre’s argument that the manner of conducting delimitation exercise falls within the purview of the Delimitation Commission
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday told Centre to act with “reasonable dispatch” to provide proportional representation to two scheduled tribe communities seeking political reservation in West Bengal after they were declared scheduled tribes by a law passed by Parliament in 2002.
Realising that the first step to do this will be to have the delimitation commission conduct an exercise of demarcating the constituencies based on the changed population of STs in the state, the bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud clarified that any such exercise undertaken by the Centre shall not interfere with the upcoming elections for the Lok Sabha or the Assembly as the need to hold elections is an “overarching constitutional mandate.”
The Centre through additional solicitor general (ASG) KM Natarj informed the Court on Thursday that the delimitation commission, constituted in 2002, had completed a nationwide exercise in 2008. He said that if the request by two communities – Limboo and Tamang – is entertained, similar requests from states are pending as 51 state-specific communities were added under the Scheduled Tribes list since the 2001 census. Similarly, there were new communities added as scheduled castes as well and it will be a humongous exercise if delimitation is to be done on a pan-India level.
The bench, also comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said, “Absent exercise of delimitation under the Delimitation Act, 2002 Act, communities that have since been added as scheduled castes and scheduled tribes would not be in a position to obtain benefits in terms of political representation. This matter must engage serious attention of the Union government.”
The Election Commission, which was directed by the Court on Wednesday to calculate the proportional increase in Scheduled Tribe seats in West Bengal following addition of Limboo and Tamang communities, told the Court on Thursday that going by the population figures provided by Registrar General, addition of the two communities will resuilt in addition of one seat for STs in the assembly.
Advocate Amit Sharma told the Court that in order to accommodate the principle of proportional representation, an additional seat will have to be made available in the state for STs. Presently, 16 out of 294 seats in the WB Assembly are reserved for STs.
The bench said, “The above circumstance (as indicated by EC) makes it abundantly necessary for Union government to take recourse to the 2002 Act for ensuring provisions of Articles 330 and 332 are duly implemented. Centre shall take decision with all reasonable dispatch.” To note, Articles 330 and 332 provide reservation for SC/ST in Parliament and Assemblies based on the principle of proportional representation. The reservation is granted based on the total SC/ST population in the territorial constituencies and does not specify reservation for any community in particular, the Court ruled.
At the same time, Court accepted the Centre’s argument that the manner of conducting delimitation exercise falls within the purview of the Delimitation Commission and requires legislative amendments to the Representation of Peoples Act, the First and Second Schedule to which provides for the total seats in State Assemblies and Parliament.
The order was passed in two petitions filed by an unregistered body Public Interest Committee for Scheduling Specific Areas and Yehang Subba who sought political representation for the two ST communities in West Bengal and Sikkim added to the ST list through a law passed by Parliament which came into effect on January 7, 2003. Under Article 342, President has power to add or delete from the list of scheduled tribes
As regards reservation for the two communities in Sikkim, the Court was more guarded as the state enjoys special provisions under Constitution Article 371F providing for reservation to sections of population in the state and not proportional reservation as envisaged by Articles 330 ans 332. This provision was introduced by Parliament to balance diverse considerations, political compulsions, and the need to maintain social fabric of the state, particularly a strategic border state.
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The bench noted that in 1980, 12 seats in the Sikkim assembly came to be reserved for Bhutia Lepcha and 1 seat for Sangha tribe. This was incorporated in Section 7(1A) of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1950.
The petitioners led by advocates Prashant Bhushan, Pranav Sachdeva and Pritika Kumar submitted that the Court can direct delimitation exercise to be carried out by the Election Commission, citing a 2012 SC judgment when such an exercise was undertaken by the Election Commission in Uttar Pradesh.
The Court said, “This Court will be going beyond the line that separates judicial from legislative domain if the Court directs reservation to be made under Section 7(1A) of the RP Act to be made in a particular manner. These are matters to be factored in by the Parliament.” Leaving it for the Parliament to pass necessary legislation in this regard, the Court added, “Parliament while deciding extent of reservation for communities designed as STs will be legitimately entitled to bear in mind the need to preserve social fabric of the state.”
The Court further clarified that its decision will not impact elections scheduled for Parliament or states as it said, “We clarify that this judgment shall not be construed as interfering with election schedule either to the Parliament or the legislative assembly as need to hold elections is an overarching constitutional mandate.”
According to EC, as per 2001 census, the ST population in Sikkim is 1.11 lakh which is approximately 20% of the state’s total population of over 5.4 lakh. The petitioners claimed that Limboo and Tamang constitute a significant number in the state, almost 13%, and should not be deprived of proportional representation.
The West Bengal government represented by senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi had said that the state was open to give additional seat to STs if they deserve but claimed that the determination has to be by Parliament as it required amendment to the RP Act. The state claimed that as per the last delimitation exercise carried out in the state in 2011, ST population was estimated at over 52.92 lakh, forming 5.8% of the state’s population. Based on this, 16 out of 294 seats are reserved for STs in Assembly and 2 out of 42 seats in Lok Sabha.