New Delhi, Feb 7 (Reporter) The 7-Judge Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday took up the issue of whether sub-classification is permitted with regard to SC-ST-Reservation. The 7-judge Constitution bench, comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice BR Gavai, Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Bela M Trivedi, Justice Pankaj Mithal, Justice Manoj Misra and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, commenced the hearing on the 2nd day on the permissibility of subclassification within the SC/ST reservation. The matter was referred to a 7-judge bench by a 5-judge bench in 2020 in the case State of Punjab v. Davinder Singh. The 5-judge bench observed that the judgment of the coordinate bench in E.V.Chinnaiah v. State of Andhra Pradesh, which held that sub-classification was not permissible, was required to be reconsidered. On the first day of the arguments, Advocate General of Punjab, Gurminder Singh argued the socio-legal nuances of the deeply rooted caste system in India. He said that there are two perspectives on reservations, firstly of those who think they are entitled and secondly, those who are actually in need. Singh said reservation is no benevolence, and is not an act of benevolence by the entitled to the needy at all. If at all it is, it is the compensation for centuries of oppression of the needy, he said. Senior Advocate Shekhar Naphde appearing for the state of Tamil Nadu began his submissions by quoting various judicial decisions, including M Nagarajan, Jainal Singh, Jaishree Patel, to Ashok Kumar Thakur's decision. Naphde said that Article 341 only empowers the president to identify and notify the SCs, thereafter the legislative competence of the state under Article 246 read with (r/w) list 2 and 3 of the 7th schedule gets triggered r/w article 15(4) and 16(4). All these constitutional schemes permit the state to enact the law and lordships are aware that executive power is coextensive with the legislative power. In Balaji the court has held that to make reservation policy it is not necessary to enact a law it can also be done by an executive order, Naphde said Senior Advocate Shekhar Naphde quoting Karl Marx said about a century ago all humans existing in a society had a history of class conflict but in a democratic set there must be an organised legal system that can resolve this conflict. Napde mentioned the challenges to the law - Special reservation of seats for educational institutions including private education institutions and appointment of posts in services of state. Senior Adv Gopal Sankarnarayanan said that each of these communities has experiences that are different from each other. The parameter that is required to be applied to SC/STs wrt 15 and 16 is historic untouchability. Because there has been a general sense that social and educational backwardness is the determinant of SC/ST. Gopal Sankarnarayanan said historical context is important for identifying SC/ST and he explained how the various "depressed classes" within Rajputs and Jats were called tribes...////...