Article 338B: National Commission for Backward Classes- Complete Notes for UPSC

Article 338B of Indian Constitution

Article 338B of Indian Constitution, introduced by the 102nd Amendment in 2018, establishes the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) as a constitutional body. This article empowers the NCBC to ensure the safeguarding of the rights and interests of the Backward Classes, significantly contributing to India’s social justice framework. It mandates the Commission to monitor the implementation of various safeguards, address grievances, and advise the government on policy matters concerning the Backward Classes, thereby reinforcing the commitment to equality and inclusiveness.

Original Text of Article 338B of Indian Constitution:

(1) There shall be a Commission for the socially and educationally backward classes to be known as the National Commission for Backward Classes.

(2) Subject to the provisions of any law made in this behalf by Parliament, the Commission shall consist of a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and three other Members and the conditions of service and tenure of office of the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and other Members so appointed shall be such as the President may by rule determine.

(3) The Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and other Members of the Commission shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal.

(4) The Commission shall have the power to regulate its own procedure.

(5) It shall be the duty of the Commission—

• to investigate and monitor all matters relating to the safeguards provided for the socially and educationally backward classes under this Constitution or under any other law for the time being in force or under any order of the Government and to evaluate the working of such safeguards;
• to inquire into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the socially and educationally backward classes;
• to participate and advise on the socio-economic development of the socially and educationally backward classes and to evaluate the progress of their development under the Union and any State;
• to present to the President, annually and at such other times as the Commission may deem fit, reports upon the working of those safeguards;
• to make in such reports the recommendations as to the measures that should be taken by the Union or any State for the effective implementation of those safeguards and other measures for the protection, welfare and socio-economic development of the socially and educationally backward classes; and
• to discharge such other functions in relation to the protection, welfare and development and advancement of the socially and educationally backward classes as the President may, subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament, by rule specify.

(6) The President shall cause all such reports to be laid before each House of Parliament along with a memorandum explaining the action taken or proposed to be taken on the recommendations relating to the Union and the reasons for the non-acceptance, if any, of any such recommendations.

(7) Where any such report, or any part thereof, relates to any matter with which any State Government is concerned, a copy of such report shall be forwarded to the State Government which shall cause it to be laid before the Legislature of the State along with a memorandum explaining the action taken or proposed to be taken on the recommendations relating to the State and the reasons for the non-acceptance, it any, of any of such recommendations.

(8) The Commission shall, while investigating any matter referred to in sub-clause (a) or inquiring into any complaint referred to in sub-clause (b) of clause (5), have all the powers of a civil court trying a suit and in particular in respect of the following matters, namely: —

• summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person from any part of India and examining him on oath;
• requiring the discovery and production of any document;
• receiving evidence on affidavits;
• requisitioning any public record or copy thereof from any court or office;
• issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses and documents;
• any other matter which the President may by rule, determine.

(9) The Union and every State Government shall consult the Commission on all major policy matters affecting the socially and educationally backward classes:]

[Provided that nothing in this clause shall apply for the purposes of clause (3) of article 342A.]

Explanation of Article 338B of Indian Constitution:

By passing the 102^nd Amendment Act 2018, the commission became a constitutional body. The amendment added a new Article 338-B and Article 342A to the constitution.

• • Article 338B confers constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes.
  • Article 342A empowers the President to specify socially and educationally backward classes in the central list after consultation with the Governor. 

• Functions Enlarged: The functions assigned to the commission were widened to effectively protect the interest of the socially and educationally backward classes.
  • Under Article 338-B, a new National Commission for Backward Classes was set up in 2018;
• Composition: The commission comprises a chairperson, vice-chairperson and three other members.
  • Of the Vice-chairperson and all other members out of whom, at least two person shall be appointed from amongst persons belonging to the socially and educationally backward classes.
  • At least one other member shall be appointed from amongst

(As per the National Commission for Backward Classes chairperson, Vice-chairperson, and members (conditions of services and tenure) Rules, 2018.

• Appointment: The President appoints the members of the commission by warrant under his hand and seal.
• Condition of service and tenure of office: The constitution empowers the President of India to determine the condition of services and tenure of the members.
• Kaka Kalelkar was the first chairperson of the National Commission for Backward classes.

105th Constitutional Amendment Act,2021

Background: By passing the 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act 2018, it was laid that the President shall notify a list of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes in relation to each state and union territory in consultation with the Governors (Article 342A). This was called Central List, and once it was notified, only Parliament alone could make changes to it. Based on this, the Supreme Court ruled (while considering a challenge to the Maratha reservation in Maharashtra) that the states can no longer notify or identify backward classes. Only the President could do so, and further changes could be made by Parliament. The 105th Constitutional Amendment Act restores the power of the state government to make its own list of socially and educationally backward classes.

The function of the National Commission for Backward Classes

Under Article 338B of the constitution, the following functions have been enumerated:

• Examines matters related to safeguarding: the commission examines and looks into all the matters related to the constitutional and other legal safeguards for the socially and educationally backward classes and reviews their work.
• Scrutinise specific complaints: The Commission looks into the particular complaints related to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the Scheduled castes (SCs).
• Evaluates progress: the commission reviews the progress of the Scheduled Caste development under the Union or a state and participates in and provides advice on the planning process for their development.
• Presents the Report: The commission may present the report annually or at other times as the constitution may specify to the President on working the safeguards.
• Recommends Union or States: recommends Union or to any state regarding the effective implementation of the safeguards and the welfare, protection, and socio-economic development of the backward classes.
• Consultation Functions: Both the Union and state governments needed to consult the commission on all significant policy matters that affected the socially and educationally backward classes.
• Other functions: It fulfils the functions related to the protection, development, welfare and advancement of the backward classes as deemed fit by the President or any law.

Report of the National Commission for Backward Classes:

• Presents the annual report: It is the responsibility of the commission to present a report to the President of India annually, and the commission may also submit a report whenever it deems fit.
• President places it in the Parliament: All of these reports are presented to the Parliament by the President, and a memorandum outlining the steps taken in response to the commission’s recommendation.
  • It must include the rationale for the rejection of every one of these recommendations.
• President forwards it to the governor: It is also the responsibility of the President to forward any report of the commission appropriated by the state government to the governor.
  • The governor further laid down a memorandum before the state legislature explaining the action taken on the commission’s recommendations.
  • The memorandum also includes the rationale for the rejection of these recommendations.

Powers of the National Commission for Backward Classes

Under Article 338B(4) of the constitution, the commission has power to regulate its own procedure. The commission has the powers of a civil court while investigating any matters or inquiring into any complaint in particular with respect to the following matters:

• It can examine a person on
• It has the authority to summon and enforce the attendance of any person and examine on oath.
• It can discover and produce any documents and receive evidence on affidavits.
• Obtaining any public record from a court or office.
• It can issue summon for the examination of witnesses and documents
• Any other matter which the President may

Commissions related to backward classes

Kaka Kalelkar Commission 1953 (also known as First Backward Classes Commission):

• In view of Article 16(4) of the constitution, the President appointed a Backward classes commission under Article 340 of the constitution.
• The commission was appointed to decide the criterion on the basis of which socially and educationally backward classes could be identified.
• Also, to investigate the condition of educationally socially and backward classes and to make suggestions that should be taken by the Union or any state government.
• The following are the criteria formulated by the commission for the socially and educationally backward classes:
  • Low social position in the traditional caste hierarchy of Hindu society.
  • Lack of general educational advancement among the significant sections of a caste.
  • Inadequate representation in the field of trade, commerce, and industry.
• No action was taken on the report.

Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission (popularly known as Mandal Commission), 1979

• Under Article 340 of the constitution, the President appoints a Mandal commission under the chairmanship of Bindeshwari Prasad Mandal.
• It was set up to investigate the condition of educationally, socially, and backward classes and to suggest the criteria for defining such classes and measures that should be taken for the advancement of the socially and educationally backwards classes.
• To examine the desirability for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of such backward classes of people who are not adequately represented in public services.
• The commission submitted its report in 1980, stating that almost 52% of the population belonged to other Backward classes and proposed a 27% reservation for them in government jobs.
• Recommendation: proposed 27% reservation for OBCs in the government jobs and educational institutions.
• In 1990, the Mandal commission’s recommendations were implemented.
• In 1991, then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao’s government made a provision for 10% reservation for economically weaker sections.

Indra Sawhney V/S Union of India, 1992

• In this case, the implementation of the reservation policy was challenged in the Supreme Court.
• The nine-judge constitutional bench struck down the provision of 10% reservation that was provided for economically weaker sections and ruled that a backward class of people cannot be identified only and exclusively with reference to economic criteria.
• The apex court upheld the validity of the 27% reservation for other backward-class commissions, and the concept of the creamy layer is excluded.
• The Supreme Court held that “once backwards, always backwards is not acceptable, and in any case, the creamy layer has no place in the reservation system”.
• The Supreme Court capped reservations up to 50%, i.e., the total proportion of reservations (including SC, ST, and OBCs) had to be below 50% under articles 15(4) and 16(4) of the constitution.

Sub-Categorisation of the other backward class commission (Popularly known as Rohini Commission):

• Under Article 340 of the constitution, the President appointed the commission to examine the Sub-categorisation of OBCs.
• The four-member commission was headed by Justice G Rohini (former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court), appointed in October 2017.
• The committee’s mandate was to look into the issues of sub-categorisation within OBCs.
• To address the anomalies in the reservation. For instance, the representation of Backward Classes in the posts and services of the central government as of March 2016 reflected poor OBC occupancy levels in central government ministries (as per the report of a parliamentary panel on the welfare of OBCs).
• The committee was entrusted with ensuring that the more backward OBCs can benefit from reservation advantages.
• Term of reference of the commission:
  • To examine the extent of inequitable distribution of benefits of reservation among the castes or communities that are included in the central list.
  • It was tasked to find out the scientific approach for the sub-categorization within such OBCs
  • To identify castes, communities or synonyms in the central list of OBCs and classify them into their sub-categories.
  • To study the different entries in the central list of OBCs and recommend corrections if there is any repetition, ambiguities, inconsistencies and errors of spelling or transcription.

List of Amendments in 338B of Indian Constitution:

Amendment	Descriptions
102nd Amendment Act 2018	The amendment added a new Article 338-B and Article 342A to the constitution of India.
105th Constitutional Amendment Act,2021	The Act restores the power of the state government to make its own list of socially and educationally backward classes.

For Further Reference:

• Read the constitution of India.
• Read National Commission for other Backward Classes Commission.

Other Related Links:

Indian Constitution: All Articles and schedules	Article 1 of Indian Constitution
Article 2 of Indian Constitution	Article 3 of Indian Constitution
Article 4 of indian Constitution	Article 5 of Indian Constitution
Fundamental Rights	DPSP
Fundamental Duties	Amendments of the Indian Constitution
Article 338 A of Indian Constitution	Article 339 of Indian Constitution