The apex court, which quashed the Centre's notification to grant reservation to "politically organised" Jats, said that though caste is a "prominent and distinguishing" factor for "easy determination of backwardness of a social group, it cannot be the sole ground for determining backwardness.
"Social groups who would be most deserving must necessarily be a matter of continuous evolution. New practices, methods and yardsticks have to be continuously evolved moving away from caste-centric definition of backwardness. This alone can enable recognition of newly- emerging groups in society which would require palliative action.
The court also said grant of OBC status to transgenders was "a path-finder, if not a path-breaker," and it is an important reminder to the state to discover emerging forms of backwardness.
"The state, therefore, cannot blind itself to existence of other forms and instances of backwardness...," it said.
"Owing to historical conditions, particularly in Hindu society, recognition of backwardness has been associated with caste. Though caste may be a prominent and distinguishing factor for easy determination of backwardness of a social group, this Court has been routinely discouraging the identification of a group as backward solely on the basis of caste," it said.