The Supreme Court on January 11 said it will examine the constitutional validity of the Ranganath Misra Commission recommendation for inclusion of Dalit Christians and Muslims in the Scheduled Caste list to make them eligible for quota in education and jobs under the constitutional scheme, leading the government to assert that the issue squarely fell in Parliament’s jurisdiction. “We want to examine whether the recommendation is valid under the Constitution. A proper study has to be made,” said a bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar.
Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam reacted to this by saying any amendment to identification of caste and the basis of the Presidential Order of 1950 providing for reservation to Dalits among Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists has to be left to Parliament and could not be done through courts.