Constitution's First Amendment in 1951 protected reservations: Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday shared the history of the reason behind Article 15(4) getting incorporated into the Constitution through the First Amendment, recalling that it also introduced the Ninth Schedule to protect land reform laws from judicial review.

Ramesh's recalling of the First Amendment comes at a time when the Congress is vociferously demanding that the 50 per cent cap on reservations be removed and a constitutional amendment made for it.

Asserting that the history related to Article 15(4) is now forgotten, Ramesh said the Select Committee on the Bill for it had been chaired by none other than the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and had included the likes of C Rajagopalachari and Dr B R Ambedkar.

It also had Syama Prasad Mookerjee as a member but he submitted a dissent note, Ramesh recalled.

"Article 15(4) was introduced into the Constitution of India through the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951 which came into effect from June 18, 1951. This Article gives the State the Constitutional powers for 'making special provisions for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes'," the Congress leader said.

Article 15(4) had become necessary as the Supreme Court had struck down reservations on April 9, 1951 in the famous State of Madras versus Champakam Dorairajan case, Ramesh said on X.

He noted that the First Amendment had also introduced the Ninth Schedule to protect land reform laws from judicial review.

"This had become necessary since the Courts were striking down zamindari abolition laws. All this history is now forgotten," he said.

The Congress has been demanding the government to announce a timeline and roadmap for the caste survey, removal of the 50 per cent cap on reservation and implementation of Article 15(5) of the Constitution for reservation in private educational institutions.