The DMK, which demanded earlier this month that the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly pass a unanimous resolution against the 10 per cent reservation announced by the Centre for the economically weaker sections in the forward communities, approached the Madras High Court on Friday with a writ petition, challenging the Constitutional validity of the recent amendment incorporated in the Constitution in this regard.

According to R S Bharati, MP, the petitioner, the amendment made in the Constitution setting apart ten per cent quota in Government jobs and seats in educational institutions to the underprivileged sections in forward communities was unconstitutional and violated the basic feature of the Constitution.

A division bench consisting of Justices S Manikumar and Subramanioum Prasad agreed to hear the case as and when the High Court Registry lists the matter before them for admission.

Bharati stated in his affidavit that reservation in education and public employment were provided under the Constitution for uplifting the oppressed and backward classes and to end caste-based discrimination in existence in the country for about three millenniums.

In such circumstances, the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth Amendment) Bill of 2019, intended at providing reservations on the basis of economic status, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on January 8 and rushed through its introduction was not part of the agenda of the Lower House of Parliament on that day, he claimed

Though the ruling AIADMK too had expressed their Opposition to the Constitution amendment to ensure 10 per cent quota for the poorest of the poor in the forward communities, it has not shown any interest in adopting a resolution in the legislative Assembly. Thambi Durai, deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha and the  propaganda secretary of the AIADMK had stated in the House itself that his party would vehemently oppose any move to dilute the reservation system.

The reservation in Tamil Nadu is already at 69 per cent due to the operation of the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Act, 1993 (Tamil Nadu Act 45 of 1993) which has the protection of Article 31-B and has been placed in the IXth Schedule of the Constitution.