IMPORTANT POINT
The judgment establishes the importance of adhering to the specified financial year and the competence of the issuing authority for EWS eligibility, emphasizing that technical irregularities and negligence by candidates cannot be overlooked.

ORDER :

1. Leave granted.

2. This appeal is against a judgment and order dated 12th November 2020 passed by a Division Bench of the High Court of Delhi allowing the Writ Petition being W.P.(C) No.8938 of 2020 filed by the Respondents-Writ Petitioners. The said Writ Petition was filed seeking the following reliefs:

“(a) Issue a writ of mandamus thereby directing the Respondents to permit the Petitioners to appear for their interview and consider their candidature in Economically Weaker Section Category;

(b) Direct the Respondent authorities to allow the Petitioners to submit their corrected EWS certificates within a span of 6 weeks from the date of their interview.

(c) Issue or pass any writ, direction or order, which this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper under the facts and circumstances of the case.”

3. On 8th January 2019, the Constitution (124th) Amendment Bill was introduced in Parliament to provide for reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).

4. The Constitution (103rd) Amendment Act 2019 was enacted inserting Clause (6) in Article 15 and Clause (6) in Article 16 of the Constitution of India with effect from 14th January 2019.

5. Articles 15(6) and 16(6) inserted in the Constitution by the Constitution (103rd) Amendment Act are set out hereinbelow:-

“15(6) Nothing in this article or sub-clause (g) of clause (1) of article 19 or clause (2) of article 29 shall prevent the State from making,—

a) any special provision for the advancement of any economically weaker sections of citizens other than the classes mentioned in clauses (4) and (5); and

b) any special provision for the advancement of any economically weaker sections of citizens other than the classes mentioned in clauses (4) and (5) insofar as such special provisions relate to their admission to educational institutions including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the State, other than the minority educational institutions referred to in clause (1) of article 30, which in the case of reservation would be in addition to the existing reservations and subject to a maximum of ten per cent of the total seats in each category.

Explanation —For the purposes of this article and Article 16, "economically weaker sections" shall be such as may be notified by the State from time to time on the basis of family income and other indicators of economic disadvantage.

16(6) Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any economically weaker sections of citizens other than the classes mentioned in clause (4), in addition to the existing reservation and subject to a maximum of ten per cent of the posts in each category.”

6. Pursuant to the insertion of Articles 15(6) and 16(6), the Government of India, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, issued an Office Memorandum F. No. 20013/01/2018-BC-II dated 17th January 2019 reserving 10% of recruitments to Civil Posts and admissions to educational institutions for the EWS.

7. By a notification bearing No.36039/1/2019-E dated 31st January 2019, the Department of Personnel & Training, under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions of the Government of India, laid down the criteria of reservation for the EWS for direct recruitment to civil posts under the Government of India. The said notification provides:

“4. CRITERIA OF INCOME & ASSETS

4.1 Persons who are not covered under the scheme of reservation for SCs, STs, and OBCs and whose family has gross annual income below Rs. 8.00 lakh (Rupees eight lakh only) are to be identified as EWSs for benefit of reservation. Income shall also include income from all sources i.e. salary, agriculture, business, profession, etc. for the financial year prior to the year of application.

Also persons whose family owns or possesses any of the following assets shall be excluded from being identified as EWS, irrespective of the family income:-

i. 5 acres of agricultural land and above;