JUDGMENT :

L. NAGESWARA RAO, J.

Leave granted in SLP (C) No.21893 of 2018 & SLP (C) Nos.32168-32169 of 2018.

1. Writ Petition (C) No. 60 of 2019 has been filed under Article 32 of the Constitution of India for quashing notifications dated 17.08.2016 and 28.08.2018 issued by the First Respondent as arbitrary and violative of Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution of India. A further direction is sought for a fresh survey and verification of data for identification and specification of ‘creamy layer’ as per the provisions of the Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admission in Educational Institutions) Act, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as, the ‘2016 Act’). The Petitioners have also sought for a direction to the Respondents to provide reservation to backward classes in Haryana under the 2016 Act by considering the existing defined criteria of ‘creamy layer’ by the National Commission for Backward Classes or the criteria used by the State of Haryana prior to the 2016 Act.

2. Reservation in backward classes as recommended by the Mandal Commission was scrutinised by this Court in Indra Sawhney v. Union of India, 1992 Supp (3) SCC 217 (hereinafter referred to as, ‘Indra