Supreme Court of India

Indira Sawhney v. Union of India and Ors.

Neutral citation

Bench M. Jagannadha Rao, D.P. Wadhwa and M.B. Shah JJ.

Decided 13 December 1999

INSC stands for INDIAN SUPREME COURT. A neutral citation scheme assigned by the Court itself, so a judgment can be cited without depending on a commercial law reporter. INSC is the neutral citation scheme assigned by the Supreme Court, so a judgment can be cited without depending on a commercial law reporter.

11 Supreme Court benches have cited this judgment.

What the Court ordered

We hold that B . the declaration in sub-clause (a) of section 3 made by the legislature has no factual basis in spite of the use of the words 'known facts'.

Judgment, page 28

From the headnote

Constitution of India Articles 14, 16(1) & 16(4)-Reservation-Backward Classes-'Creamy layer'-Identification and exclusion of from the purview of reservation-Directions issued by Supreme Court in Indira Sawhney case-State of Kerala-Failure to identify 'creamy layer'-State Legislature passing a law for continuing the existing system of reservation by declaring non-existence of 'creamy layer' in Backward Classess and inadequate representation of Backward Classes in services under the State-Validity of-Held; 'creamy layer' in a caste is not economically and socially backward-Conferring the benefit of reservation without excluding creamy layer will amount to treating unequals as equals and equals as unequals…

Authorities it was built on

Indira Sawhney v. Union of India
1995 Ashok Kumar Thakur v. State of Bihar and Others cited by 4
Keshavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala
Ajit Singh II v. State of Punjab
Akhil Bhartiya Soshit Karamchari Sangh v. Union of India

Where later benches applied it

2026 Union of India and Others v. Rohith Nathan and Another, Etc. referred to
2025 Sakshi Arha v. The Rajasthan High Court & Ors. referred to
2024 The State of Punjab & Ors. v. Davinder Singh & Ors. referred to
2023 The Animal Welfare Board of India and Ors. v. Union of India & Anr referred to
2022 Janhit Abhiyan v. Union of India referred to
2019 B K Pavitra and Ors. v. The Union of India and Ors referred to
2018 Jarnail Singh & Others v. Lachhmi Narain Gupta & Others referred to
2016 Govt. of Bihar and Ors. Etc. Etc. v. Dayanand Singh Etc. Etc. referred to
2014 State of Tamil Nadu v. State of Kerala & Anr. referred to
2014 Dr. Subramanian Swamy v. Director, Centeral Bureau of Investigation & Anr. referred to
2011 Ap. Dairy Development Corporation Federation v. B. Narasimha Reddy & Ors. referred to

Of those, 11 referred to

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