First Principles IAS · Current affairs

The monthly magazine, October 2026 · Polity and Governance › Equality and reservation

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Three States' quota laws fall as courts hold the 50 per cent ceiling

LeadPrelims and Mains31 Oct 2026

Why in news

In October 2026 four High Courts ruled on reservation, and every ruling turned on the 50 per cent ceiling from **Indra Sawhney v. Union of India (1992)**.
Andhra Pradesh lost its 34 per cent quota for Backward Classes in local bodies, and the Supreme Court dismissed the State's appeal, calling the High Court order "very reasonable". Madhya Pradesh lost its 2019 law raising the quota for Other Backward Classes in State jobs to 27 per cent. Karnataka lost its 2022 law raising Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe reservation to a total of 56 per cent.

Article 16(4) lets the State reserve posts for any backward class not adequately represented in its services. Articles 243D and 243T allow reservation of seats in panchayats and municipalities.
In Indra Sawhney (1992) a nine judge Bench upheld the 27 per cent quota for Other Backward Classes in Central services and fixed a ceiling: reservation should not exceed 50 per cent, except in extraordinary situations. The figure traces the cases that applied the ceiling, set the triple test for local bodies and made its one exception, the 10 per cent quota for Economically Weaker Sections under the 103rd Amendment, 2019.

Law: 34 per cent for Backward Classes in panchayats, 33.33 per cent in urban bodies
Ruling: set aside by the High Court, upheld by the Supreme Court; the total crossed 50 per cent and a family survey is not the empirical data the triple test needs
Next: the State accepted the quota its dedicated commission fixed within 50 per cent; elections are due, and the Special Intensive Revision is no reason to delay them

Law: 2019 law raising the Other Backward Classes quota in State jobs from 14 to 27 per cent
Ruling: struck down; no extraordinary situation, and the data show adequate representation under Article 16(4)
Next: posts held back since 2022 go to unreserved candidates within three months

Law: 2022 law raising Scheduled Caste reservation from 15 to 17 per cent and Scheduled Tribe from 3 to 7 per cent
Ruling: struck down; the ceiling is "a binding constitutional principle", and the Economically Weaker Sections quota has not already breached it
Next: the 2022 increases fall

Order: panchayat elections within three months with the existing 27 per cent quota
Ground: the dedicated commission set up in May is still at work; reserved seats cannot be treated as open meanwhile
Next: polls go ahead while the commission reports

States are testing the ceiling from both sides. They raise quotas for jobs to meet political demands, and the same demands push them to raise quotas in local bodies down to the village. Four courts in one month applied the same rule to both.
Data is the hinge, not the number. Every State that lost in October had either no data or data that cut the other way. Madhya Pradesh lost because the data showed adequate representation.

The triple test protects the ceiling but delays elections.

Andhra Pradesh's panchayat terms ended in March and April 2026
Uttar Pradesh's commission has sat since May
The Supreme Court's answer: elections go ahead on existing or interim rules while the commission works

A caste count changes the next round. The Census of 2027 records every person's caste. Those figures will let States make the data argument the other way, though a number alone does not prove an extraordinary situation.

Set up the dedicated commission before the law, not after the challenge, and publish its data.
Fix local body quotas on the commission's report within the ceiling, so that no State ever postpones an election for want of a quota.

Prelims:
- Article 16(4); Articles 243D and 243T
- Indra Sawhney (1992): a nine judge Bench, 27 per cent for Other Backward Classes, the 50 per cent ceiling
- The 103rd Amendment, 2019 and Janhit Abhiyan (2022): the 10 per cent Economically Weaker Sections quota
- The triple test: K. Krishna Murthy (2010) and Vikas Kishanrao Gawali (2021)
- State Election Commissions: Articles 243K and 243ZA

Mains: "The 50 per cent ceiling is being tested from both sides, in State jobs and in local bodies." Examine with reference to the High Court rulings of October 2026.

Show the questions

Mains 2022 GS2: Discuss the role of the National Commission for Backward Classes in the wake of its transformation from a statutory body to a constitutional body.
Mains 2026 GS2: “Women as a class neither belong to a minority group nor are they regarded as forming a backward class.” In the light of this statement, discuss the evolution of women's reservation from local bodies to Parliament.

Sources

Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.