Article 15 of the Constitution of India
Article 15 of the Constitution of India forbids discrimination on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth or any of them. It applies Article 14's general principle of equality in specific situations by forbidding classifications made on protected grounds. While prohibiting discrimination based on prejudice, the Article is also the central issue in a large body of judicial decisions, public debate, and legislation revolving around affirmative action, reservations, and quotas. As of the 103rd Amendment of the Constitution of India, Article 15 has six clauses. Clause prohibits discrimination against citizens on protected grounds. Clause mandates that citizens may access various public or commercial spaces or utilities without discrimination on protected grounds. Clauses - allow the State to create 'special provisions' for women, children, socially and educationally backward classes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and economically weaker sections.
Background
On 29 November 1948, the Constituent Assembly debated the first version of Article 15 as Article 9 of the revised Draft Constitution, 1948. Draft Article 9 read:The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex or any of them. In particular, no citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex or any of them, be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to
Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for women and children.
Some members of the Assembly wanted additional protected grounds, including a prohibition on discrimination based on family and descent. Other members argued further that gardens, roads, and tramways should be included as places where denial of access is prohibited. However, B. R. Ambedkar, the chairman of the Drafting Committee, clarified that the general nature of the text was sufficient to cover a large variety of spaces not specifically included in the Article. Prof. K.T. Shah, a member of the Assembly, proposed that Clause 2 of the Draft Article be amended to provide for special provisions for 'Scheduled Castes or backward tribes for their advantage, safeguard, or betterment.' However, the proposal was rejected, with Ambedkar arguing that adopting the amendment would perpetuate the segregation of these groups. After debate and amendment, the original text remained largely intact and became Article 15 of the Constitution of India.
Clauses 1-2: Prohibition of discrimination on protected grounds
The first two clauses of Article 15 prohibit discriminationGeneral prohibition against state discrimination
Clause 1 of the Article prohibits the State from discriminating against citizens on five protected grounds.Within three years of the adoption of the Constitution, the Supreme Court used Article 15 to invalidate a State law which provided for elections which had separate electorates for members of different religious communities. Similarly, courts have found discrimination on the basis of religion under Article 15 in the context of special provisions for Muslims, and reservation of a State legislature seat for one religious community.
The Supreme Court has held that the Article 15 prohibition on race discrimination should be read along with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The provision was used to direct the Union to set up a committee to address racial discrimination against people from North-East India. Some courts have connected race to protections for Scheduled Tribes. Courts have on occasion struck down discriminatory legislation on the basis of race such as in the case of a law which required members of a particular community to report daily to the police. Courts have also struck down discriminatory legislation on the basis of caste, as in the case of a notification which exempted all Harijan and Muslim residents from a compulsory levy in a locality.
Similarly, the Article has been used to invalidate sex discrimination by legislation, such as prohibitions on proprietresses holding property or working in premises where liquor was served. The Supreme Court has interpreted 'sex' as including both 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity' which has extended the protection of Article 15 to Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender persons.
Like the other protected grounds, 'place of birth' has also been a source of some ambiguity. In 1955, the Supreme Court distinguished between 'place of birth' and 'residence', holding that discrimination on the basis of 'residence' was not prohibited outright by Article 15. In that ruling, the Court upheld a State Medical College's decision to require a capitation fee from students residing outside the region on the grounds that the decision discriminated on the basis of residence or domicile and not on 'place of birth'. The Court diluted that decision in Pradeep Jain v. Union of India, holding that residence requirements were inconsistent with the idea of national unity and integration, and limited residence-based reservations to not more than seventy percent of total seats at the MBBS level.
For much of its history, Article 15 did not prohibit indirect discrimination. For example, in 1951, the Madras High Court held that the Evacuation Property Ordinance, 1949 did not violate clause, though most individuals affected by the ordinance were Muslim, as the operation of the ordinance was not restricted to Muslims alone on the ground of religion. However, in 2021, the Supreme Court in Lt. Col. Nitisha v. Union of India invalidated a facially neutral criteria for the grant of Permanent Commissions to women on the grounds that it was indirectly discriminatory.