Higher Education and Reservations — Landmark Judgments

Landmark Judgments

State of Madras v. Champakam Dorairajan

1951

This was the first major judgment on reservations post-independence. The Madras government had issued an order reserving seats in medical and engineering colleges based on caste…

M.R. Balaji v. State of Mysore

1963

The Mysore government had reserved 68% of seats in engineering and medical colleges, including 50% for OBCs. The Supreme Court struck down this order, introducing the '50% ceiling…

T. Devadasan v. Union of India

1964

This case dealt with the 'carry forward rule' in public employment, where unfilled reserved vacancies from previous years were carried forward to subsequent years, leading to over…

Indra Sawhney v. Union of India

1992

Also known as the 'Mandal Commission case,' this nine-judge Constitution Bench judgment is the most significant pronouncement on reservation policy. It largely upheld the 27%…

Ashoka Kumar Thakur v. Union of India

2008

This case dealt with the constitutional validity of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, which provided 27% reservation for OBCs in central…

M. Nagaraj v. Union of India

2006

This judgment examined the constitutional validity of the 77th, 81st, 82nd, and 85th Constitutional Amendments, which allowed for reservations in promotion, carry forward of…

Jarnail Singh v. Lachhmi Narain Gupta

2018

A five-judge Constitution Bench clarified and modified the M. Nagaraj judgment. It held that the requirement of collecting quantifiable data on the 'backwardness' of SC/ST…

P.A. Inamdar v. State of Maharashtra

2005

A seven-judge Constitution Bench held that the State cannot impose its reservation policy on unaided private professional educational institutions. The Court emphasized the…

Society for Unaided Private Schools of Rajasthan v. Union of India

2012

This case dealt with the constitutional validity of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which mandated 25% reservation for economically weaker sections in private unaided…

Saurav Yadav v. State of Uttar Pradesh

2020

This case clarified the methodology for implementing horizontal reservations. The Supreme Court held that a candidate selected on horizontal reservation (e.g., women, PwD) must be…

Dr. Jaishri Laxmanrao Patil v. The Chief Minister

2021

The Supreme Court struck down the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act, 2018, which provided reservation for the Maratha…

Janhit Abhiyan v. Union of India

2022

A five-judge Constitution Bench, in a 3:2 majority, upheld the constitutional validity of the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019, which introduced 10% reservation for…

State of Punjab v. Davinder Singh

2020

This case dealt with the contentious issue of sub-categorization within Scheduled Castes. The Supreme Court referred the matter to a larger bench (7-judge bench) to reconsider its…

T. K. Rangarajan v. State of Tamil Nadu

2003

This case, though primarily about employment, reinforced the principle that the State is not bound to provide reservations. It reiterated that Article 16(4) is an enabling…

Union of India v. R. Rajeshwaran

2023

While not a single landmark judgment, recent pronouncements, including this one, have continued to refine the application of the creamy layer. The Supreme Court has consistently…