Constitutional Safeguards
The important Constitutional Safeguards for Scheduled Castes are mentioned below:-
1. Development and Protective Safeguards
These safeguards are contained in the Directive Principles of State Policy of the Constitution and a specific provision in Article 46 which is a comprehensive provision comprising both the developmental and regulatory aspects. It reads as follows:-
Article 46 “The State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation”.
Article 25(2)(b) provides that Hindu religious institutions of a public character shall be thrown open to all classes and sections of Hindus. This provision is relevant as some sects of Hindus used to claim that only members of the concerned sects had a right to enter their temples. This was only a subterfuge to prevent entry of SC persons in such temples. For the purpose of this provision the term Hindu includes Sikh, Jain and Buddhist.
2. Social Safeguards
Article 17 “Untouchability” is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden. The enforcement of any disability arising out of “Untouchability” shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law. To give effect to this Article, Parliament made several enactments viz., Untouchability (Offences) Act, 1955. In order to make the provisions of this Act more stringent, the Act was amended in 1976 and renamed as the Protection of Civil Rights (PCR) Act, 1955. The rules framed under this Act called Protection of Civil Rights Rules, 1977 under the provisions of the Act. Parliament also passed the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, which became effective from 30.01.1990. The rules framed under this Act called the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Rules, 1995 were notified on 31.03.1995. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015 was notified on 01.01.2015 and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Rules, 2016 framed under the amended Act came into force on 14.04.2016.
Article 23 prohibits traffic in human beings and beggar and other similar forms of forced labour and provides that any contravention of this provision shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law. It does not specifically mention SCs but since majority of bounded labour belong to SCs, this Article has a special significance for these communities. In pursuance of this Article, Parliament has enacted the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976. For effective implementation of this Act, the Ministry of Labour is running a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for identification, liberation and rehabilitation of bonded labour
Article 24 provides that no child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment. There are Central and State laws to prevent child labour. This Article is also significant for SCs as a substantial portion of child labour engaged in hazardous jobs belong to these groups.
3. Economic Safeguards
The provisions of Articles 23, 24 and 46 mentioned above also form part of the economic safeguards for Scheduled Castes.
4. Educational and Cultural Safeguards
Article 15(4) empowers the State to make any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for SCs and STs. This provision was added to the Constitution through the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951, which amended several Articles. This provision has enabled the State to reserve seats for SCs and STs in educational institutions including technical, engineering and medical colleges and in Scientific & Specialized Courses. In this Article as well as in Article 16(4) the term ‘backward classes’ is used as a generic term and comprises various categories of backward classes, viz., Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, De-notified Communities (Vimukta Jatiyan) and Nomadic/Semi nomadic communities.
5. Political Safeguards
Article 164(I) provides that in the States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa there shall be a Minister in charge of tribal welfare who may in addition be in charge of the welfare of the Scheduled Castes and backward classes or any other work.
Article 330 provides for reservation of seats for SCs and STs in the Lok Sabha.
Article 332 provides for reservation of seats for SCs/STs in the State Vidhan Sabhas (Legislative Assemblies).
Article 371 A, B, C and F contain special provisions with respect to Nagaland, Assam, Manipur and Sikkim respectively.
6. Service Safeguards
Article 16(4) empowers the State to make “any provision for the reservation in appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which, in the opinion of the State, is not adequately represented in the services under the State”.
Article 16(4A) specifies that nothing in this Article shall prevent the State from making any provision for reservation in matters of promotion, “with consequent seniority” to any class or classes of posts in the services under the State in favour of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes which, in the opinion of the State, are not adequately represented in the services under the State”.
Article 16(4B) Specifies that nothing in this article shall prevent the State from considering any unfilled vacancies of a year which are reserved for being filled up in that year in accordance with any provision for reservation made under clause (4) or clause (4A) as a separate class of vacancies to be filled up in any succeeding year or years and such class of vacancies shall not be considered together with the vacancies of the year in which they are being filled up for determining the ceiling of fifty percent reservation on total number of vacancies of that year”.
Article 320 (4) provides that nothing in clause (3) shall require a Public Service Commission to be consulted as respects the manner in which any provision under Article 16(4A) may be made or the manner in which effect may be given to the provisions of Article 335.
Article 335 mentions that the claims of the members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes shall be taken into consideration, consistently with the maintenance of efficiency of administration, in the making to appointments to services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of a State”. “Provided that nothing in this Article shall prevent in making of any provision in favour of Member of SCs & STs for relaxation in qualifying marks in any examination or lowering the standards of evaluation, for reservation in matters of promotion to any class or classes of services or posts in connection with affairs of Union or of a State” (Constitutional 82nd Amendment, Act, 2000).