Backward Classes - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition backward-classes

Definition :

Backward classes, It is necessary to satisfy two conditions to attract clause (4) of Article 16, namely,

(i) a class of citizens is backward, i.e., socially and educationally, in the sense explained in Balaji's case ([1963] Supp 1 SCR 439); and

(ii) the said class is not adequately represented in the services under the State. It is held in Balaji's case that backwardness under Article 15(4) must be social and political and that social backwardness was in the ultimate analysis the result of poverty to a very large extent, Triloki Nath Tikku v. State of Jammu & Kashmir, AIR 1967 SC 1283: (1967) 2 SCR 265. [Constitution of India, Art. 16(4)]

Backward classes, means socially and educationally backward classes within the territory of India, Constitution of India, Article 340.

Backward classes, are classes slow in development, Webster Dictionary of Law, p. 108.

Backward classes means such backward classes of citizens other than the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, as may be specified by the Central Government in the lists. [National Commission for Backward Classes Act, (27 of 1993) s. 2(a)]