The union cabinet Wednesday approved a bill to implement 10% economically weaker section (EWS) quota in Jammu and Kashmir already in place in rest of India, even as the Supreme Court reserved its order on whether the EWS quota law be sent to a larger constitutional bench to weigh its validity.
The union cabinet said in statement that the approval "would pave way of extending the benefit of reservation of up to 10% for 'economically weaker sections (EWS)' in educational institutions and public employment alongside existing reservations”.
In the Supreme Court, Attorney General K K Venugopal told a bench headed by Justice S.A. Bobde that the EWS law granting 10% quota aims to uplift around 200 million people, news agency PTI reported.
The bench, also comprising Justices R.Subhash Reddy and B.R. Gavai, was hearing a batch of pleas challenging the validity of the Act on the ground that economic criteria cannot be the sole basis for granting reservation.
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