Equality of opportunity in public employment
Also called: Article 16 · Topic: Fundamental Rights and Constitutional Remedies · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 2 "Rights in the Indian Constitution"
Meaning
Article 16 gives all citizens an equal chance in jobs and appointments under the State. The State cannot discriminate on religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth or residence. Only citizens hold this right. Article 16 also allows reservation:
- Art. 16(4): reservation for backward classes not adequately represented in State jobs.
- Art. 16(4A): reservation in promotions (77th Amendment, 1995).
- Art. 16(4B): unfilled reserved posts carried forward to later years (81st Amendment, 2000).
- Art. 16(6): reservation for economically weaker sections, or EWS (103rd Amendment, 2019).
Example
Under Article 16(3), only Parliament can make residence a condition for State jobs. In Kailash Chand Sharma (2002), state domicile rules in public jobs were struck down.
Don't confuse with
- Article 15: Article 15 bans discrimination in general, and its clauses (4) to (6) cover admissions to education. Article 16 deals only with public employment.
Related concepts
- Prohibition of discrimination
- Special provisions for women and children
- Special provisions for backward classes
- Residence requirement in public employment
- C.B. Muthamma case
- Untouchability
- Abolition of titles
- Balaji Raghavan case