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[436 G-H; 437 A-D]

5. The Preamble to our Constitution shows the nation's resolve to secure to all its citizens: Justice-Social, economic and political. The State's objective of bringing about and maintaining social justice must be achieved reasonably having regard to the interests of all. Irrational and unreasonable moves by the State will slowly but surely tear apart the fabric of society. It is primarily the duty and function of the state to inject moderation into the decisions taken under Arts. 15(4) and 16(4), because justice lives in the hearts of men and a growing sense of injustice and reverse discrimination, fueled by unwise State action, will destroy, not advance, social justice. If the State contravenes the constitutional mandates of Art. 16(1) and Art. 335, the Supreme Court will of course, have to perform its duty. [437 F-G]

Krishna Iyer, J., while upholding the validity of Rule 13AA made it quite clear that Art. 16(4) was to be viewed not as a saving clause but as a clause inserted in Art. 16 due to the over-anxiety of the draftsman to make matters clear beyond possibility of doubt. He was emphatic that Art. 16 applied to appointments and pro- motions as well. He expressed his agreement with Fazal Ali, J. that arithmetical limit of 50 per cent in one year set by some earlier rulings could not be pressed too far and that overall representation in a department did not depend on the recruitment in a particular year, but the total strength of a cadre He also agreed with Fazal Ali, J's construction of Art. 16(4) and his view about the 'carry forward' rule. But we must point out that Krishna Iyer, J. also made certain observations indicating that he too fell into the elitist trap of viewing the question as one of 'protective discrimination'. A The question to which he addressed himself was 'Is Rule (13AA) valid as protective discrimination to the Heartiness'. Viewing the question in that light, he proceeded to utter some words of purported caution about the fills of reservation. He aid, A word of sociological caution. In the light of experience, here and elsewhere the danger of 'reservation', it seems to me, is three-fold. TLC benefits, by and large, are snatched away by the top creamy layer of the 'back ward' caste or class, thus keeping the weakest among the weak always weak and leaving the fortunate layers to consume the whole cake. Secondly, this claim is over played extravagantly in democracy by large and vocal groups whose burden of backwardness has been substantially lightened by the march of time and measures of better education and more opportunities of employment but wish to wear the 'weaker section' label as a means to score over their near-equals formally categorised as the upper brackets. Lastly, a lasting solution to the problem comes only from improvement of social environment, added educational facilities and cross-fertilisation of castes by inter-caste and inter-class marriages sponsored as a massive State programme, and this solution is calculatedly hidden from view by the higher 'backward' groups with a vested interest in the plums of backwardness. But social science research, not judicial impressionism, will alone tell the whole truth and a constant process of objective re-evaluation of a progress registered by the 'under dog' categories is essential lest a once deserving 'reservation' should be degraded into 'reverse discrimination'." One cannot quarrel with the statement that social science research and not judicial impressionism should form the basis of examination, by Courts, of the sensitive question of reservation for backward classes. Earlier we mentioned how the assumption that efficiency will be impaired if reservation exceeds 50 per cent, if reservation is extended to promotional posts or if the carry forward rule is adopted, is not based on any scientific data. One must, however, enter a caveat to the criticism that the benefits of reservation are often snatched away by the top creamy layer of backward class or caste. That a few of the seats and posts reserved for backward classes are snatched away by the more fortunate among them is not to say that reservation is not necessary. This is bound to happen in a competitive society such as ours. Are not the unreserved seats and posts snatched away, in the same say, by the top creamy layer on society itself ? Seats reserved for the backward classes are taken away by the top layers amongst them on the same principle of merit it on which the unreserved seats are taken away by the top layers of society. How can it be bad if reserved seats and posts are snatched away by the creamy layer of backward classes, if such snatching away of unreserved posts by the top creamy layer of society it self not bad? This is a necessary concomitant of the very economic and social system under which we are functioning. The privileged in the whole of society snatch away the unreserved prizes and the privileged among the backward classes snatch away the reserved prizes, This does not render reservation itself bad. But it does emphasis that mere reservation of a percentage of seats in colleges and a percentage of posts in the services is not enough to solve the problem of backwardness. Developmental facility and opportunity must be created to enable the really backward to take full advantage of reservations. It indicates that the ultimate solution lies in measures aimed firmly at all round economic and social development. There is, of course, the danger that it engenders self-denigration and backwardness may become a vested interest. The further real danger is not reservation but reservation without general all round social and economic development. The result of such reservation is that all the young men of merit belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Backward classes are literally 'gobbled up' by the civil services leaving very few educated young men of those classes to make their cause on the social, economic and political fronts. The very constraints of office restrain those who have become civil servants from championing the cause of their brethern. There is also the historical truth that oppressed persons who improve their lot, in an effort to forget an unhappy past, often, rush to join the elite and imitate their ways, habits and thoughts. In the process they tend to forget their less fortunate brethern.