Caste is not the sole factor to determine backwardness: SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today held caste as one of the determining but not the sole factor to decide social and educational backwardness of an individual.

"Determination of backward class cannot be exclusively based on caste. Poverty, social backwardness, economic backwardness, all are criteria for determination of backwardness," Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said.

The list of socially and economically backward classes (SEBCs) is not solely based on caste and, hence, their identification is not a violation of Article 15 (1) of the Constitution, he said.

"When SEBCs are determined by giving importance to caste, it shall not be forgotten that a segment of that caste is economically advanced and they do not require the protection of reservation," he said.

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However, the five-judge Bench, upholding the Central Act to provide 27 percent reservation to OBCs in central institutions, discarded the contention of anti-quota activists that castes cannot be used even as one of the criteria for identifying SEBCs.

"Caste plays an important role in determining the backwardness of an individual. In society, social status and standing depend upon the nature of the occupation followed," the Chief Justice said.

"Caste is often used interchangeably with class and can be called as the basic unit of social stratification,” he said.

The petitioners had contended castes cannot be the basis for reservation as with the changes in time, the caste system has undergone change and many persons have shifted their traditional occupations and have become doctors, engineers and lawyers.