Decide On Invoking Delimitation Act To Ensure Proportionate Representation For SCs/STs In Legislature : Supreme Court Directs Centre

In a judgment delivered last November, the Supreme Court declined to pass directions to provide proportionate representation for the Scheduled Tribes (STs) in Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies of States of West Bengal (WB) and Sikkim, observing that it was a matter requiring amendments to the Representation of Peoples Act.Noting that the reservation schedules in the Representation of Peoples Act are based on the 2008 Delimitation Order, the Court said that a legislative amendment is required to increase the proportionate representation. However, the Court cannot direct a legislative amendment.“For the Court to direct that in addition to the reservation which has been made in Section 7(1A) of the Representation of Peoples Act 1950, Parliament must necessarily legislate in a particular manner to provide proportional representation to all the other communities forming a part of the Scheduled Tribes, would be to trench into the legislative domain...this Court would be going beyond the line that separates the legislative from judicial domains by directing that reservation for the Scheduled Tribes over and above what has been prescribed in Section 7(1A) should be made by Parliament in a particular manner”, observed the Bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. The judgment, pronounced on November 23, was uploaded recently.At the same time, the Court directed the Union Government to decide on invoking the powers under the Delimitation Act to ensure proportionate representation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes."...it is for the Union Government to take recourse to the powers under the Delimitation Act 2002 for the purpose of ensuring that the provisions of Articles 330 and 332 are duly implemented. The Central Government should take a decision with all reasonable dispatch, in accordance with law," the judgment stated. A contention raised by the Union Government that Article 170 of the Constitution may get in the way of a fresh delimitation exercise was dismissed by the Bench."The provisions of Article 170 indicate that until the census takes place after 2026, the total number of seats in the Legislative Assembly would be governed by the readjustment made on the basis of the 1971 census and the division of territorial constituencies would be governed by the readjustment on the basis of the 2001 census. This has no bearing on the exercise which is required to be conducted on the issue which is raised in the present proceedings which essentially relates to the implementation of the principle of representation for the Scheduled Tribes on the basis of the population as indicated in the 2001 census," the Court observed.The Court noted the submission of the Union that nearly fifty-one communities were added after 2001 to the list of Scheduled Tribes until the last census took place in 2011. This is a matter which must engage the attention of the Union Government, the Court stated.Before parting, it was clarified that the judgment shall not interfere with the election schedule that the Election Commission may prescribe for conduct of elections either to Parliament or to State Legislative Assemblies. Background The factual background of the case was such that vide the Scheduled Castes and STs Orders (Amendment) Act 2002 (“2002 amending Act”), the Limboo and Tamang communities were included to the list of STs for States of WB and Sikkim. In 2006, the Delimitation Notification 2006 was published by the Delimitation Commission, without accounting for STs designated under the 2002 amending Act (including Limboo and Tamang communities). This 2006 Notification formed the basis of the Delimitation Order 2008 issued by the Election Commission under the Representation of People (RP) Act. Aggrieved by the non-inclusion, the petitioners moved the Supreme Court seeking proportional representation of STs in the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies of WB and Sikkim, claiming that the 2006 Notification and the 2008 Order are defective and an election notification based on the same would be in violation of the Constitution. Essentially, they prayed that the Delimitation Commission amend the 2006 Notification to provide proportionate reservation for STs under Article 332, followed by the Election Commission amending the 2008 Order. Reliance was placed on the Supreme Court's decision in Virendra Pratap and Another v. Union of India and Others where, agreeing that STs had a right to proportional representation under Articles 330 and 332 of the Constitution, the court directed Election Commission to take appropriate steps to ensure their representation in Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies of States. The Election Commission, contrarily, claimed that the legislative framework for reservation of seats requires an amendment to the RP Act, which is the exclusive mandate of the Parliament. Further, readjustment of seats requires an enabling provision...

Decide On Invoking Delimitation Act To Ensure Proportionate Representation For SCs/STs In Legislature : Supreme Court Directs Centre

Debby Jain

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