Question

How did the Supreme Court of India resolve the dispute which arose due to the Order issued by the Government of India on 13th August, 1990?

Answer 1

Hint: A long chain of events has preceded this Office Memorandum. The culmination of these events led to the Government of India issuing this Order or office memorandum on 13th August 1990.

Complete answer:
In 1979, the Second Backward Classes Commission popularly called the Mandal Commission was appointed by the Government of India. The report of this commission led to the following chain of events. In his address to the Parliament, the government’s intention to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission was announced by the President of India. In order to put the recommendations of the commission into implementation, the Union Cabinet took a formal decision on 6 August 1990. The next day through a statement in both the Houses of Parliament Prime Minister V.P. Singh informed the Parliament about this decision. This decision of the Cabinet was sent to the Department of Personnel and Training. In line with the Cabinet decision, the senior officers of the Department drafted an order and took the minister’s approval. On behalf of the Union Government, an officer signed the order. Thus on 13 August 1990, O.M. No. 36012/ 31/90 (the order) was born.
Some persons and associations filed a number of cases in the courts as they opposed this order. They appealed to the courts to stop the implementation of the order and declare it invalid. The Supreme Court of India grouped all these cases together. This case was known as the ‘Indira Sawhney and others Vs Union of India case’. Arguments of both sides were heard by eleven judges of the Supreme Court. In 1992, the Supreme Court judges declared by a majority that this order of the Government of India was valid. At the same time, the Government of India was asked to modify its original order. It said that among the backward classes the advanced sections should be excluded from the list beneficiaries of reservation. Accordingly, another Office Memorandum was issued by the Department of Personnel and Training on 8 September 1993. Thus, the dispute came to an end and since then this policy has been followed.

Note: The Morarji Desai Government established the Second Backward Classes Commission under the chairmanship of B P Mandal which led to widespread protests.