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PART III FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS · Right to Equality

Article 15: Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth

The Constitution of India

(1) The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.

(2) No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them, be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to—

(a) access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment; or

(b) the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly out of State funds or dedicated to the use of the general public. (3) Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for women and children.

1[(4) Nothing in this article or in clause (2) of article 29 shall prevent the State from making any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.]

2[(5) Nothing in this article or in sub-clause (g) of clause (1) of article 19 shall prevent the State from making any special provision, by law, for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes in so far as such special provisions relate to their admission to educational institutions including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the State, other than the minority educational institutions referred to in clause (1) of article 30.]

3[(6) Nothing in this article or sub-clause (g) of clause (1) of article 19 or clause (2) of article 29 shall prevent the State from making,—

(a) any special provision for the advancement of any economically weaker sections of citizens other than the classes mentioned in clauses (4) and (5); and

(b) any special provision for the advancement of any economically weaker sections of citizens other than the classes mentioned in clauses (4) and (5) in so far as such special provisions relate to their admission to educational institutions including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the State, other than the minority educational institutions referred to in clause (1) of article 30, which in the case of reservation would be in addition to the existing reservations and subject to a maximum of ten per cent. of the total seats in each category. Explanation.— For the purposes of this article and article 16, "economically weaker sections" shall be such as may be notified by the State from time to time on the basis of family income and other indicators of economic disadvantage.]

Footnotes in the official text

  1. 1.Added by the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951, s. 2 (w.e.f. 18-6-1951).
  2. 2.Ins. by the Constitution (Ninety-third Amendment) Act, 2005, s. 2 (w.e.f. 20-1-2006).
  3. 3.Ins. by the Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019, s. 2 (w.e.f. 14-1- 2019).

Leading cases

Showing 12 of 15 judgments in the library on this provision, larger Benches first. Search the judgments

Questions on this article

27 questions in 49 of our papers cite Article 15. Try these from the free papers:

  1. 1. Consider the following statements regarding Article 15(5): 1. Special provisions under it relating to admission may be made for the minority educational institutions referred to in Article 30(1). 2. Special provisions under it relating to admission may extend to private educational institutions that are not aided by the State. 3. Special provisions under it may be made by executive order without any law. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  2. 2. What was the Supreme Court's decision in the Navtej Singh Johar case about Section 377 of the IPC?

  3. 3. Clause (4) of Article 15, which permits special provisions for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes of citizens and for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, was added by:

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