Sub-Classification Within Reservations Addresses Imbalances; Enhances Equity: CJI BR Gavai

Reservation policies are necessary to ensure justice within the broader category of disadvantaged people, said Chief Justice of India BR Gavai while speaking at the Oxford Union on Wednesday.  

The CJI said that reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) is not a dilution of the reservation policy, but a much-needed step to ensure justice within the broader category of the disadvantaged. The CJI was speaking about the Indian Constitution and the changing nature of social justice.

Inclusion Within Inclusion

The Chief Justice was in Oxford Union speaking about the theme: “From Representation to Realisation.” He said that reservations were not designed just to provide representation, but meant for the empowerment of those people who had historically excluded from social structures of power. Within these communities, some groups have benefited more than others. Sub-classification, he added, helps address this imbalance by identifying “the most backward among the backwards”, and ensuring they receive a fair share of representation in public employment and education.

“Sub-classification does not question the success of reservation it strengthens it,” the Chief Justice remarked, reiterating that equitable distribution within disadvantaged communities is constitutionally valid and ethically justified.

Davinder Singh Case

CJI Gavai’s remarks come in light of the fact that he was part of the Constitution Bench ruling in which the Supreme Court upheld the right of the state to create sub-classifications among SCs for targeted benefits. In his judgement, Justice Gavai had agreed that affirmative action should be nuanced, especially if there is proof that benefits have been disproportionately accessed by a few castes.

CJI Gavai said that “for India’s most vulnerable citizens, the Constitution is not merely a legal charter or a political framework. It is a feeling, a lifeline, a quiet revolution etched in ink.”

Recalling his journey from a municipal school to the office of the Chief Justice of India, CJI Gavai said that the Constitution “has been a guiding force”. “This is what the Constitution did. It told the people of India that they belong, that they can speak for themselves, and that they have an equal place in every sphere of society and power,” he added.

Justice Gavai, who authored a concurring opinion in that case, had applied the “creamy layer” concept even within SC/ST reservations to prevent monopolisation of benefits. He also framed sub-classification as part of the Constitution’s larger promise to provide real and substantive equality, not just formal representation. He credited India’s constitutional model for allowing peaceful accommodation of diversity and fostering inclusive democracy through legal innovation.

Dr B R Ambedkar “saw representation as a necessary check—a system of constitutional checks and balances—to guard against the arbitrary power and social hegemony of dominant caste and class groups”, said the Chief Justice. 

“He understood that in a society where inequality had been systemically entrenched, change would not come naturally or voluntarily. Therefore, the constitutional text itself had to carry the weight of a mandate— a mandate to protect, to empower, and to ensure representation,” he added.

He also said recent judicial interventions on gender justice, disability rights, and transgender protections also stemmed from the idea of inclusive representation in India’s reservation policy.