Ashoka Kumar Thakur case
Also called: Ashoka Kumar Thakur v. Union of India · Topic: Safeguards for Vulnerable Sections: SCs, STs, OBCs, Minorities, Women and Children · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Ashoka Kumar Thakur v. Union of India (10 April 2008) is the Supreme Court judgment on OBC quotas in central educational institutions. It upheld the 93rd Amendment (2005), which added Article 15(5). Article 15(5) lets the state make special provisions for admissions of backward classes, SCs and STs. The Court also upheld 27% OBC reservation under the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act 2006. The creamy layer, meaning the better-off OBCs, was kept out.
Example
After this ruling, OBC students could get 27% of seats in central institutions such as central universities, but only if they were outside the creamy layer. Later, Pramati (2014) extended Article 15(5) to private unaided institutions.
Don't confuse with
- Indra Sawhney case (1992): this upheld 27% OBC reservation in central government jobs. Ashoka Kumar Thakur dealt with education.
Related concepts
- Backward Classes Commission (Article 340)
- Kalelkar Commission
- Other Backward Classes
- OBC reservation
- Creamy layer
- 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act 2018
- 105th Constitutional Amendment Act 2021
- Rohini Commission