Article 16: Your Constitutional Right to Equal Opportunity in Government Jobs

Article 16 of the Indian Constitution: Article 16, which is a part of the Fundamental Rights and comes under Right to Equality guarantees equality of opportunity in public employment. It ensures that every Indian citizen gets a fair chance to compete for government jobs without any discrimination. At the same time, it empowers the State to provide reservations to uplift the disadvantaged communities.

Article 16 of the Indian Constitution

According to the Indian Constitution, Article 16 states that “Equality of opportunity in matters of public employment”

(1) There shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State,

(2) No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them, be ineligible for, or discriminated against in respect of, any employment or office under the State.

(3) Nothing in this article shall prevent Parliament from making any law prescribing, in regard to a class or classes of employment or appointment to an office under the Government of, or any local or other authority within, a State or Union territory, any requirement as to residence within that State or Union territory prior to such employment or appointment.

(4) Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which, in the opinion of the State, is not adequately represented in the services under the State.

(4A) Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any provision for reservation in matters of promotion, with consequential seniority, to any class or classes of posts in the services under the State in favour of Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes which in the opinion of State are not adequately represented in the services under the State.

(4B) Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from considering any unfilled vacancies of a year which are reserved for being filled up in that year in accordance with any provision for reservation made under clause (4) or clause (4A) as a separate class of vacancies to be filled up in any succeeding year or years and such class of vacancies shall not be considered together with the vacancies of the year in which they are being filled up for determining the ceiling of fifty per cent, reservation on total number of vacancies of that year.

(5) Nothing in this article shall affect the operation of any law which provides that the incumbent of an office in connection with the affairs of any religious or denominational institution or any member of the governing body thereof shall be a person professing a particular religion or belonging to a particular denomination.

(6) Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any economically weaker sections of citizens other than the classes mentioned in clause (4), in addition to the existing reservation and subject to a maximum of ten per cent. of the posts in each category.

What Is Article 16?

Article 16 of the Indian Constitution ensures that all citizens shall get equal employment opportunities when applying for jobs under the State. This means that:

• There shall be no discrimination

• Everyone must get equal chance

But there are certain exceptions to this right to equality:

• The State is allowed to provide reservation for backward classes, SC/ST, and EWS

• Special safeguards for women, PWD candidates, and ex-servicemen (permitted under Article 16(1) & 16(4))

Key Provisions of Article 16 of Indian Constitution

At present, Article 16 of the Indian Constitution contains six provisions, out of which some of them are added later through various constitutional amendments. 

Article 16(1): Equal Opportunity in Public Employment

There shall be equal opportunity for the citizens in the matter of employment or appointment to any office under the State.

It means that every citizen has an equal right of opportunity; it does not guarantee the right to employment.

Article 16(2): No Discrimination on Specific Grounds

No citizen can be discriminated against in public employment on the grounds of:

• Religion

• Race

• Caste

• Sex

• Descent

• Place of birth

• Residence

This means that the state cannot discriminate only on the basis of the above criterias. But, the State can discriminate based on other grounds as mentioned in Article 16(3).

Article 16(3): Parliament Can Prescribe Local Requirement

The Article 16(3) states that the Parliament can make laws for employment in a particular state/ union territory, if required.

Examples:

• Telangana domicile rules

• J&K domicile rules

• Some state-level recruitments requiring local residency

Article 16(4): Reservation for Backward Classes

The Parliament as well as the state governments can make laws to provide reservation in public employment to the backward classes such as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Article 16(4A): Promotion Reservation for SC/ST

The Parliament enacted the 77th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1955 and added Article 16(4A) to the Constitution. This clause states that the reservation shall be provided to the SCs and STs in promotions.

Article 16(4B): Carry Forward of Backlog Vacancies

Through the81st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2000, Article 16(4B) was inserted in the Constitution. This clause allows to carry forward the backlog vacancies which could not be filled due to the unavailability of eligible candidates of the SEBC category in the previous year. These vacancies cannot be clubbed with the 50% reservation provided for OBCs, SCs, and STs.

Article 16(5): Religious Institutions Exception

This clause allows the religious denominations or institutions to appoint people of their own faith. This means that clause (1) and (2) are exempted in this clause. 

Article 16(6): EWS Reservation

This clause was inserted by the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019. It provides:

• 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS)

• In public employment

• Over and above the existing reservation limit

Important Supreme Court Judgments on Article 16

Indra Sawhney vs. Union of India (1992)

The Indra Sawhney case is popularly known as the Mandal Commission case because the Supreme Court has asked to set up a Commission under BP Mandal to prepare a report on the reservations. The Supreme Court held 27% OBC reservation as valid and also introduced the concept of creamy layer.

M. Nagaraj Case (2006)

Upheld reservation in promotion (16(4A)), but mandated:

• Collection of quantifiable data

• Proof of backwardness

• Proof of inadequate representation

Jarnail Singh v. Lachhmi Narain Gupta (2018)

In the Jarnail Singh case, the Supreme Court modified the Nagraj case judgement uphelding that quantifiable data was not required in case of SCs and STs as they are already listed under the backward classes.

But, it also upheld that the reservation should only be provided to those who are in dire need of it. Those who are socially and economically advanced should not ask for it.

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Why Article 16 Matters Today

Article 16 plays a crucial role in shaping India’s employment and reservation policies as it:

• Promotes equality in government appointments

• Ensure fair competition

• Enables affirmative action by the State

• Support the reserved communities

• Balances merit and social justice

Article 16 at a Glance