Supreme Court Allows Sub-classification of SC/ST

The Supreme Court of India, in a 6:1 majority verdict led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, overruled the 2004 E.V. Chinnaiah judgment, allowing states to sub-classify Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) for reservation purposes. This empowers states to address varying degrees of discrimination within these groups, provided there is empirical data supporting such classifications. Concurrently, the Supreme Court refused to stay the Patna High Court's ruling that invalidated Bihar's legislation to increase reservation quotas from 50% to 65% for SCs, STs, and other backward classes, deeming it unconstitutional. The Bihar government had appealed to the Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear the case but declined interim relief, insisting that the increase violates the equality clause under Articles 14, 15, and 16 of the Constitution.