Article 16 is a fundamental right provision under Part III of the Constitution of India, guaranteeing equality of opportunity in matters of public employment. Its origin traces back to the Constituent Assembly debates, where it was discussed as Draft Article 10 on November 30, 1948, and was included in the Constitution in 1950 to ensure equal access to government jobs and prohibit discrimination.
The mechanism is dual: Article 16(1) ensures equal opportunity for all citizens, and Article 16(2) prohibits discrimination in state employment based on religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, or residence. However, Article 16(4) is an enabling provision that allows the State to make reservations for any backward class of citizens not adequately represented in government services.
This provision connects directly to the Mandal Commission recommendations, which were challenged in the landmark judgment Indra Sawhney v. Union of India in 1992. In this case, the Supreme Court upheld the 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), introduced the "creamy layer" principle, and fixed the total reservation ceiling at 50%. Following this, the 77th Amendment Act, 1995, inserted Article 16(4A) to allow reservation in promotions for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
Most recently, the structure of Article 16 was amended by the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019, which inserted Article 16(6). This new clause allows the State to provide a maximum of 10% reservation in public employment for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of citizens, which is in addition to the existing reservations. This amendment, which received Presidential assent on January 12, 2019, introduced an economic criterion for reservation while the core principle of caste-based reservation under Article 16(4) remained unchanged.