102nd Constitutional Amendment Act 2018

Polity & Governance glossary

Topic: Safeguards for Vulnerable Sections: SCs, STs, OBCs, Minorities, Women and Children · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act 2018 made the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) a constitutional body by adding Art. 338B. Before this, the NCBC was only a statutory body, set up under the NCBC Act 1993. The amendment also added Art. 342A, under which the President notifies the list of socially and educationally backward classes (SEBCs). SEBCs are communities that are behind others both socially and in education, often called OBCs. The amendment matters because it gave the NCBC the same constitutional standing as the NCSC and NCST. It also led to a major fight over who can identify backward classes: the Centre or the states.

Example

In the Maratha reservation case (Jaishri Laxmanrao Patil, 5 May 2021), the Supreme Court split 3:2 on Art. 342A. The majority read it to mean that only the Centre could identify backward classes. So the states lost the power to make their own lists. Parliament then passed the 105th Amendment in 2021 to give that power back to the states.

Don't confuse with

  • 105th Constitutional Amendment Act 2021: the 102nd created Art. 338B and Art. 342A. The 105th added Art. 342A(3) and amended Art. 366(26C) so that states could again make their own SEBC lists.
  • National Commission for Women (NCW): it is still a statutory body. The NCBC has been a constitutional body since 2018.

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