| Syllabus: GS-II, Subject: Polity, Topic: Right issues, Issue: Fundamental Rights |
Context: The Citizenship (Amendment) Act-2019 has been challenged in Supreme Court on the grounds of violation of Article 14.
Reasonable classification test:
- It is a legal concept used to assess the fairness and validity of laws or government actions that differentiate between groups of people.
- It ensures that such classifications are not arbitrary and promote equal treatment under the law.
- The Home Ministry argues that CAA-2019 fits the reasonable classification as it grants citizenship to persecuted minorities from neighbouring
Concerns with application of reasonable test
- Discrimination based on religion contradicts secularism and may not be adequately addressed by the classification test.
- A comprehensive re-understanding of the right to equality is needed, involving radical redevelopment of existing tests.
| +1 advantage for mains(case law)
● In Charanjit Lal Chowdhury v. Union of India (1950), the Court allowed the legislature to recognize degrees of harm and restrict cases based on clearest harm. |
