The Supreme Court has finally removed a long-standing legal obstacle to fine-tuning the existing policies of social justice. The seven-member bench of the apex court has allowed state governments to sub-divide the reservation quota meant for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). The Court has also opened the door for identification and exclusion of the “creamy layer” in the SC and ST categories from the benefits of affirmative action. While there can be many issues with the exact formulation and implementation of this judgment, especially the part on the creamy layer, this is a step forward in the long history of India’s rich jurisprudence on reservation. On balance, this judgment would help fine-tune and deepen policies and politics of social justice in an era where the very idea of affirmative action faces an onslaught.

The Court’s much awaited judgment in the State of Punjab vs Davinder Singh case marks the conclusion of a 20-year-long legal struggle by state governments to liberate themselves from the limits upon their power to sub-classify Scheduled Castes. The point of contention was the correct interpretation of Article 341 of the Constitution that empowers the President to notify the list of castes to be deemed as Scheduled Castes throughout the country. In 2004, a five-member bench of the Supreme Court had outlawed any policy that sought to sub-divide this category for purposes of creating sub-quotas. In this E V Chinnaiah case, the bench unanimously took an ultra-technical view of Article 341 and held that all the Scheduled Castes, across the diverse social geographies within the states, were a homogenous class that could not be sub-divided.

The judgment in E V Chinnaiah suffered from a basic disconnect with........

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