81st Constitutional Amendment Act 2000
Topic: Safeguards for Vulnerable Sections: SCs, STs, OBCs, Minorities, Women and Children · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 9 "Constitution as a Living Document"
Meaning
The 81st Constitutional Amendment Act 2000 inserted Article 16(4B). It deals with backlog vacancies, meaning reserved posts that stayed unfilled in earlier years. Such posts can be carried forward and filled later as a separate class. They are not counted against the 50% ceiling for the year in which they are filled. It matters because it undid the effect of T. Devadasan (1963).
Example
Suppose a department fails to fill 20 reserved posts this year. Next year it can fill them as backlog, even if that pushes that year's total reservation above 50%. In M. Nagaraj (2006), the Court upheld this amendment.
Don't confuse with
- 77th Amendment (1995): it added Article 16(4A) on reservation in promotions for SCs and STs. The 81st deals only with carrying forward unfilled vacancies.
Related concepts
- M.R. Balaji case
- Carry-forward rule
- Indra Sawhney case
- Fifty per cent ceiling on reservations
- Tamil Nadu's 69% reservation
- Maratha reservation case
- 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act 2019
- Economically Weaker Sections reservation
- Janhit Abhiyan case