Revision summary
Article 338 makes the NCSC a constitutional watchdog, not a court that can execute reservation. Articles 15(4) and 16 bind the State; Article 15(5) expressly spares minority institutions under Article 30. T.M.A. Pai, P.A. Inamdar, Ashoka Kumar Thakur and Pramati protect that minority space. The Commission may still take discrimination complaints and advise on grants. Only a constitutional amendment, not an NCSC order, could force SC reservation into genuine religious minority institutions.
Model answer
Flow diagram
flowchart TD NC[Article 338 NCSC] --> R[Inquire advise report] SC[Arts 15-4 16 SC reservation] --> ST[State and aided public seats] AM[Art 15-5 exception] --> M[Art 30 minority institution] M --> X[No forced SC roster] R --> ST
Conclusion
- Keep Article 30 intact, but publish transparent minority-character tests so fake minority colleges cannot evade both reservation and regulation.
- Use aid, recognition and the NCSC’s complaint jurisdiction against caste humiliation, even where a numerical SC roster cannot be forced.
- Parliament, not the Commission, would have to amend Article 15(5) if the political choice is to extend reservation into minority institutions; that choice has so far gone the other way.
The NCSC can monitor, inquire and recommend, but it cannot enforce Scheduled Caste reservation inside religious minority educational institutions against Article 30 and the express exception in Article 15(5). Social justice in those campuses will come from anti-discrimination scrutiny, aid conditions and honest minority-character tests, not from treating the Commission as a second Supreme Court.
Quick related
Students also ask
-
Under what circumstances can the Financial Emergency be proclaimed by the President of India? What consequences follow when such a declaration remains in force?
Next question on this syllabus topic (2018 · Q3). View answer →
-
Can the NCSC issue a binding quota order like a High Court?
No. It investigates and recommends. Binding enforcement of fundamental-rights disputes remains with the courts under Articles 32 and 226.
-
Does Article 15(5) ban all help to SC students in a minority college?
No. Scholarships, anti-discrimination rules and reasonable aid conditions can still operate. What it blocks is a State-imposed reservation mandate in those institutions.
PYQ trend
When UPSC asked this
Related PYQs from other years, newest first. Open a question to read it.
-
2020 · Q2 · GS II · 10 marks
"Recent amendments to the Right to information Act will have profound impact on the autonomy and independence of the Information Commission". Discuss. -
2020 · Q11 · GS II · 15 marks
Indian constitution exhibits centralising tendencies to maintain unity and integrity of the nation. Elucidate in the perspective of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897; The Disaster Management Act, 2005 and recently passed Farm Acts. -
2020 · Q15 · GS II · 15 marks
Which steps are required for constitutionalization of a commission? Do you think imparting constitutionality to the National Commission for Women would ensure greater gender justice and empowerment in India? Give reasons. -
2019 · Q5 · GS II · 10 marks
What can France learn from the Indian Constitution's approach to secularism? -
2018 · Q3 · GS II · 10 marks
Under what circumstances can the Financial Emergency be proclaimed by the President of India? What consequences follow when such a declaration remains in force? -
2017 · Q11 · GS II · 15 marks
Explain the salient features of the constitution(One Hundred and First Amendment) Act, 2016. Do you think it is efficacious enough 'to remove cascading effect of taxes and provide for common national market for goods and services'? (250 words). -
2016 · Q2 · GS II · 12 marks
To what extent is Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, bearing marginal note "temporary provision with respect to the State of Jammu and Kashmir", temporary? Discuss the future prospects of this provision in the context of Indian polity. -
2016 · Q6 · GS II · 12 marks
What was held in the Coelho case? In this context, can you say that judicial review is of key importance amongst the basic features of the Constitution?
More from this topic
Q3 · UPSC Mains 2025 · GS II · 10 marks
Compare and contrast the President's power to pardon in India and in the USA. Are there any limits to it in both the countries? What are 'preemptive pardons'?
Indian Constitution
Article 72 (and 161) are exercised on aid and advice; Maru Ram, Kehar Singh, Epuru Sudhakar and Shatrughan Chauhan frame Indian limits and delay. The US Article II pardon is personal, federal-only, and barred in impeachment. Judicial review is stronger in India; political cost is the main US brake. A preemptive pardon forgives before conviction, as in Ford–Nixon. India has no working doctrine of preemptive pardon for the untried.
Q15 · UPSC Mains 2024 · GS II · 15 marks
Discuss India as a secular state and compare with the secular principles of the US constitution.
Indian Constitution
Indian secularism: Preamble, Articles 25–28, Bommai as basic structure, personal laws, State reform of Hindu law and regulation of temples. US secularism: First Amendment establishment and free exercise, Everson’s wall, Engel on school prayer, no millet personal law. India practises principled distance and social reform; the United States practises non-establishment. Minority educational rights under Article 30 have no US analogue of that form. Neither wall nor distance is a finished peace with majoritarian politics. Comparison is of method, not of piety.
Q12 · UPSC Mains 2024 · GS II · 15 marks
Right to privacy is intrinsic to life and personal liberty and is inherently protected under Article 21 of the constitution. Explain. In this reference discuss the law relating to D.N.A. testing of child in the womb to establish its paternity.
Indian Constitution
Puttaswamy held that privacy is part of Article 21 and that any restriction must be legal, necessary and proportionate. Section 112 of the Evidence Act treats a child born in a valid marriage as legitimate unless non-access is proved. Goutam Kundu and later cases refused to make DNA a routine paternity weapon in a private quarrel. A test on a child still in the womb adds miscarriage risk and collides with the woman’s bodily autonomy. Suchita Srivastava had already linked reproductive choice to personal liberty. Proportionality will rarely justify a prenatal paternity expedition. The law of paternity is not a right to inspect a womb.
Toppers' copies
Toppers' copies for this question will be uploaded soon.