Supreme Court rejects Centre's request for reconsideration of 102nd amendment

New Delhi, Thursday 2 June 2021

The apex court on May 5 rejected the Centre's plea for reconsideration of the decision relating to the 102nd amendment on the basis of a majority. The ruling said that after the 102nd Amendment, states do not have the right to identify Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs).

A bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan, Justice L Nageshwar Rao, Justice S Abdul Nazir, Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice S Ravinder Bhat said that all the grounds given in the reconsideration petition by the central government have been taken into account in the main judgment. The bench said there was no basis to intervene in the May 5 order. The bench rejected the central government's review petition.

The bench also rejected the Centre's demand to hear the review petition in open court. The petition was heard by the bench in its chamber on June 28, but the order was released on the Supreme Court’s website on Thursday.

On May 5, a five-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court ruled by a majority (3: 2) that, after the 102nd amendment, the right of states to identify socially and educationally backward classes has come to an end.