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New Delhi: Can Brahmins, considered socially and educationally most forward but with minimal presence among elected representatives in the grassroots level of democracy, be considered politically backward classes (PBCs) entitled to reservation of constituencies in panchayats?The petition by NGO ‘Youth for Equality Foundation’, through senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, told a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi that a 5-judge SC bench in K Krishna Murthy case had ruled, “social and economic backwardness does not necessarily coincide with political backwardness”. The bench said it is willing to examine the issue, but it prima facie feels PBCs have to be from within socially and educationally backward classes (SEBCs). “If those among SEBC communities are under-represented…then they could be categorised as PBCs, but the reverse is not true.” In 2010, the five-judge SC bench had said, “In this respect, the state govts are well advised to reconfigure their reservation policies, wherein the beneficiaries under Articles 243-D(6) and 243-T(6) need not necessarily be coterminous with the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs) for the purpose of Article 15(4) or even the backward classes that are underrepresented in govt jobs [for the purpose of Article I6(4)].”
