The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that anyone who had derived reservation benefits by making false caste claims will lose his job or admission as it is a “fraud on the Constitution”.

The order came from a bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justices D Y Chandrachud and N V Ramana who were deciding on a clutch of petitions by persons who had derived reservation benefits though they were not entitled to it.

Justice Chandrachud, writing for the bench, was categorical. “When a person who does not belong to a caste, tribe or class for whom reservation is meant, seeks to pass off as its member, such a stratagem constitutes a fraud on the Constitution,” he wrote. Those falsely deriving reservation benefits end up denying a seat to a deserving person. “This constitutes an egregious constitutional fraud. It is a fraud on the statutes which implement the provisions of the Constitution. It is a fraud on state policy,” he wrote.

The order noted that in the past, many courts had protected those who had got benefits by fraud, keeping in mind the human element, but this had led to conflicting opinions.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App.