Reservation is one of those issues where a lot of people are not even willing to think things through. Do rich SC/ STs get discriminated against? Yes, absolutely. Would this discrimination be of a magnitude where they need direct seats in universities? Not really - please spare a second and read how:

1. Assume there is a rich SC person going to a top school. They have impeccable English and most of their classmates do not know of their caste.

2. This same person has access to all the top coaching and study materials.

3. So, at lease as far as university admissions are concerned (especially those purely based on objective selection criteria like CLAT), these people face no discrimination.

4. Will they possibly face discrimination when they finally reach university/ look for marriage options? Yes, very possible. But how is a free ride to uni tiding over this or helping?

Every seat taken by a privileged or rich SC/ ST person is a seat that a poor SC/ ST person loses out on. Just think of that. Upholding reservation structures that are not nuanced further perpetuate discrimination by keeping reservation at top colleges in the hands of the "elite" SC/ STs (I know how oxymoronic, or moronic it sounds, but we are kidding ourselves if we genuinely believe that all SC/ STs are at the same pedestal regardless of their economic status).

Another solution can be different subquotas for different economic classes within SC/ STs.

no ▮▮▮. An SC candidate with an income over 8 lakhs could be discriminated, but the consequences of such discrimination on him are far LESSER than an SC candidate with an annual income of a lakh. You can only reserve a limit number of seats- and NO ONE is arguing to dilute reservation itself. The reserved seats stay INTACT. The issue is who should be more entitled to it from a given community - the son of an IAS officer or a poor rural child- the former of which might have benefitted from reservation in some aspect of life, but the latter who might have been deprived of education altogether because of their caste. Use your common sense instead of such pseudo elitist consti arguments and you'd have your answer. A constitutional provision or hurdle is not an answer to the social injustice which the present reservation "SYSTEM" reaps.

The SC quota has been virtually monopolised by the landed ▮▮▮ and ▮▮▮ community, while many Dalits from extremely poor communities are being deprived. These people have been classified as Mahadalits by Nitish Kumar in Bihar, but that doesn’t really solve the problem. We need a law that either bans privileged communities like Jats, ▮▮▮, ▮▮▮, ▮▮▮, ▮▮▮ etc from caste reservation (the poor among them can still apply for economic reservation under EBC quota) or bans reservation outright and goes by 100% merit ranks.

So according to you, a person whose income is above 8 Lakh is not discriminated on the basis of his caste anymore? There is a reason why most of the reputed scholars in constitutional field have been against this move, 16 (4) was never about the individual's upliftment, it literally uses the term "community with lack of representation in government services". Very skewed understanding to say SC/ST reservation is for economic upliftment alone, there are numerous schemes already running for that. Though I understand why one would think otherwise by looking at EWS/non creamy layer reservation for economic upliftment specifically, 16 (4) for SC ST is completely different.

As expected, mass downvoting by LI readers, even though the CJI himself is from a backward caste. 🤣 LI readers will not accept any criticism of the reservation policy, even though it's completely flawed!

So you guys believe that the children of an SC IAS officer deserve reservation but the children of a GC peon or driver don't??

Chief Justice of India BR Gavai on Sunday affirmed that he is still for exclusion of creamy layer in reservations to Scheduled Castes.

Addressing a programme "India and the Living Indian Constitution at 75 Years", BR Gavai opined that children of an IAS officer can not be equated with the offsprings of a poor agricultural laborer when it comes to reservations.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/chief-justice-br-gavai-backs-exclusion-of-creamy-layer-in-reservation-to-scheduled-castes-9645736/amp/1