In a historical judgement, the Union Cabinet approved 124th Constitutional Amendment Act. Critically analyse its features along with the recent issues.

The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth Amendment) Bill, 2019 seeks to provide for the advancement of economically weaker sections of citizens.
Features of the bill

• The Bill seeks to amend Article 15 of the Indian constitution
• 10% of seats may be reserved for EWS sections for admission in educational institutions
• Such reservation will not apply to minority educational institutions
• The Bill seeks to amend Article 16 to permit the government to reserve up to 10% of all posts for the �economically weaker sections� of citizens
• The reservation of up to 10% for �economically weaker sections� in educational institutions and public employment will be in addition to the existing reservation
• It also provides for reservation in private unaided educational institutions

Recent issue: The Supreme Court said that the 10 per cent EWS quota cannot be applied to PG medical courses in Maharashtra for the academic year 2019-20 as admission process started long before the provision came into force. The court has argued that the process of admission had begun before the amendment in constitution to grant reservation to EWS. �Aggrieved students contended that it was discriminatory as it had taken the overall reservation to 76 per cent, leaving very few seats in the open category. Although state may act in the Article 16 of the Constitution, inserted by 103rd amendment but unless additional seats are sanctioned by the Medical Council of India, the existing seats cannot be subjected to the provisions.