The Communal GO subsequently underwent changes — including the incorporation of the term “Backward Hindu” — and quotas were provided for jobs and admission to colleges till 1950 when the GO was struck down by a full bench of the Madras High Court on the ground that it went against Article 29(2) of the Constitution. The verdict was given on two cases, one filed by Shanbagam Duraiswamy and the other by C.R. Srinivasan.

The striking down of the Communal GO led to widespread agitation, which impelled the Centre to enact the first constitutional amendment. A fourth clause was added to Article 15 (Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth). It now read: “Nothing in this article or in clause (2) of Article 29 shall prevent the State from making any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.” Reservation then resumed in TN, helping a new set of backward class people forge ahead. In 1957, after the reorganisation of states, TN’s reservation formula was: SC 16 per cent, BC 25 per cent and OC, 59 per cent. Later the DMK government raised the quota for BCs to 31 per cent.

After M.G. Ramachandran became CM in 1979, an annual income of Rs 9,000 was fixed as ceiling to avail oneself of BC status—a sort of economic criterion. Not only did the order evoke protests but also led to the rout of MGR’s AIADMK in the Lok Sabha elections in 1980. MGR withdrew the income ceiling and also raised the quota for BCs to 50 per cent, thus taking the total percentage of reservation to 68. In 1988, when the DMK was in power, it was raised it to 69 per cent with 1 per cent added for STs. The BC quota of 50 per cent was also split into two — 30 per cent for BCs and 20 per cent for denotified tribes and MBCs, a new group carved out of the BCs following the agitation organised by the Vanniyar Sangam, led by Dr S. Ramadoss.

... contd.