Beginning of the end

High Court of Kerala upheld an order by the Government of Kerala reserving a percentage of seats in colleges for the poor among upper castes. The court observed that the order, being a policy decision is out of the purview of judicial review. But the odd thing was that the bench consisting of Mr. Bennur Math, Chief Justice and Mr. Basheer observed that the backward castes have gained a lot of economic and social privilege as a result of six decades of communal reservation and it is about time to stop this. Also, the honourable judges advised the backward castes to compete against the upper castes, instead of looking forward to reservation. Shocking judgment indeed, which exceeded the terms of reference! Communal reservation was not under scrutiny in this case, and the Court ventured to express its opinion which is not based on any data. Some questions naturally comes up.

1. What was the data upon which the court made the observation that backward castes have improved their economic lot? How can the economic condition be measured?

2. Similarly, how can we say that their representation in jobs is adequate? Is there any study report?

3. Is there any data on the representation of the economically poor among upper castes in jobs and educational institutions?

4. What is the sanctity of economic reservation, when the financial status of a person can change overnight, especially if he finds a job in the middle east?

The answer would obviously be vague for all these questions.

At this point, it'd be worth while to check the veracity of some of the comments. Let's take the results of Kerala Engineering Entrance Examinations 2009 furnished by the Government of Kerala on its website (http://www.cee-kerala.org/engmed09.htm). The following table lists the community-wise representation for the first 500 and 5000 ranks.

	First 500 ranks		First 5000 ranks
	Number	%	Number	%
Muslim	66	13.2	832	16.6
Ezhava	42	8.4	715	14.3
Other Backward Hindu	11	2.2	320	6.4
Latin Catholic	6	1.2	58	1.2
Other Backward Christian	1	0.2	5	0.1
Kudumbi	1	0.2	6	0.1
Scheduled Castes	0	0	27	0.5
Scheduled Tribes	0	0	1	0.0
Anglo Indian	0	0	11	0.2
OEC	1	0.2	26	0.5
Forward Communities	372	74.4	2999	60.0

The table is self-explanatory. Ezhavas, who are 23% of the population have been able to get only 8.4% of the top 500 ranks whereas the forward communities which is about 25% of the population has been able to bag 74.4% of the ranks. Of course, these students studied hard and are highly meritorious. Every Keralite should be proud of them without reserve. However, this has amplified the condition that the backward communities still have not reached a position of compete with the upper castes.

So, the message is already clear. The courts have started the end game to put an end to communal reservations once and for all. Social organizations need to sit up and take note of this act of judicial adventurism.