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EWS reservation: the 103rd Amendment and Articles 15(6), 16(6)

By CAShorts DeskPublished Updated Sources: Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019 (Gazette of India, 12 January 2019); DoPT Office Memorandum, 31 January 2019; The Indian Express Explained, 10 October 2026

Why in news: Jammu and Kashmir's Assembly, in its recently concluded session, heard that about 91% of the UT's EWS certificates in two years went to Jammu division.

EWS reservation: the 103rd Amendment and Articles 15(6), 16(6)
Illustration (AI-generated)

The Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019 added Articles 15(6) and 16(6), letting the State reserve up to 10% of seats and posts for economically weaker sections outside the SC, ST and OBC quotas. The Supreme Court upheld it 3:2 in 2022. Jammu and Kashmir's EWS criteria are now questioned over a sharp regional imbalance in certificates.

Syllabus: GS2 · Constitution; Prelims · Polity & Governance; GS2 · Welfare of Vulnerable Sections

In short

The Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019 added Articles 15(6) and 16(6), allowing up to 10% reservation for economically weaker sections outside existing quotas, on economic criteria alone.

EWS reservation: keymilestones2019: 103rd Amendment in force2019: DoPT test2019: J&K Rules amended2022: Janhit Abhiyan upholds3:2

Narrowly upheld, EWS reservation will reach the poor only if its eligibility tests fit local land records and agree with other poverty measures.

Why it matters

A family's claim to one in ten seats in central jobs and colleges now turns on a certificate built from income and property tests. Because the Constitution lets each State write its own tests, a family can qualify in one State and not in another, and a central test drawn up in square feet and square yards may not suit local land records. The quota also changed the basis of reservation: it is the first to rest on economic disadvantage alone and the first closed to SC, ST and OBC families, a design the Supreme Court upheld only by 3:2. How the tests are drawn decides whether it reaches the poor it was meant for.

Prelims pointers

  • Article 15(6) overrides Articles 19(1)(g) and 29(2), so private unaided institutions can be required to admit EWS students; minority institutions under Article 30(1) are excepted.
  • The 10% is a maximum ('subject to a maximum of ten per cent'), not a fixed share that every State must provide.
  • EWS excludes, by the text, the classes under Articles 15(4) and 15(5) and, for posts, Article 16(4): SCs, STs and socially and educationally backward classes.
  • The Explanation makes EWS whatever 'the State' notifies on family income and other indicators, so the Centre, States and UTs each set criteria.
  • Janhit Abhiyan majority: economic criteria alone, and the exclusion of SC, ST and OBC classes, do not breach the basic structure; the 50% ceiling is not inflexible.
  • Janhit Abhiyan dissent: economic criteria are permissible in themselves, but excluding the poor among SCs, STs and OBCs violates the equality code.
  • Indra Sawhney v Union of India (1992) struck down a 1991 executive order giving 10% to economically backward sections of non-reserved classes.
  • Article 46, a Directive Principle, asks the State to promote the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections.

Practise a UPSC-style question

With reference to the Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019, consider the following statements:

1. It inserted a new clause in both Article 15 and Article 16 for economically weaker sections.

2. It fixed EWS reservation at ten per cent, which every State is bound to provide.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. (a) 1 only
  2. (b) 2 only
  3. (c) Both 1 and 2
  4. (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Show the answer

Answer: (a) 1 only

1 is correct: it inserted clause (6) in Article 15 and clause (6) in Article 16. 2 is incorrect: the reservation is 'subject to a maximum of ten per cent', a ceiling the State may use, not a fixed share it must provide.

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