VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan MP files review petition against Supreme Court’s quota sub-classification verdict : Valley Vision

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) chief Thol Thirumavalavan MP on Friday filed a review petition in the Supreme Court against its verdict permitting the sub-classification of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to provide reservations in government jobs and education.

The MP from Tamil Nadu’s Chidambaram, in his review petition, said that there were several “grave and manifest errors of law” in the judgement that needed to be corrected.

In his review petition, Thirumavalavan said that the court “erred in directing the state to take steps to evolve a policy for identifying the creamy layer from the SCs/STs so as to exclude them from the benefit of affirmative action.”

He added that the verdict was issued by “locating the incorrect reasoning in Articles 14 to 16 of the Constitution.”

According to the review petition, the top court had not cited empirical data to prove its claims that the economic status of those belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes correlated with a reduction in their social backwardness.

He also noted that the judgment “erred in directing the states to evolve a policy for identifying the creamy layer from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, excluding them from the benefits of affirmative action.”

“Since the application of ‘creamy layer’ test was not a question that arose for consideration before the court, the court erred in exceeding its jurisdiction in discussing and passing a direction to the States to formulate a policy for identifying the creamy layer for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes,” the review petition added.

On August 1, a seven-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, in a 6:1 majority verdict, overruled the court’s 2004 judgement, which held that Scheduled Castes formed a homogenous group and hence could not be sub-divided into categories.

Critics questioned the rationale of the verdict and claimed that it could deepen social divisions, weaken the Dalit movement and alter the landscape of caste-based politics in India. Many argued the revoking of the verdict.