Article 15: Prohibition of Discrimination

Article 15 protects citizens against discrimination based solely on specified personal attributes. It prohibits discrimination on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth, or any combination of these grounds.

Scope of the prohibition

Under Article 15(1), the State cannot discriminate against any citizen only on the five prohibited grounds. The word only indicates that the unfavourable treatment must be founded solely on one or more of these grounds.

• The protection is available only to citizens, unlike the general equality guarantee under Article 14.
• Residence and language are not listed as prohibited grounds under Article 15.

Access to public places

Article 15(2) prevents any citizen from being subjected to disability, restriction, liability, or condition on the same prohibited grounds in specified areas of public access. This clause also reaches discriminatory conduct by private persons in these areas.

• It covers access to shops, public restaurants, hotels, and places of public entertainment.
• It covers the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads, and places of public resort maintained from State funds or dedicated to public use.

Constitutionally permitted special provisions

Article 15 permits measures that advance substantive equality rather than treating them as prohibited discrimination.

• Article 15(3) permits special provisions for women and children.
• Article 15(4) permits special provisions for socially and educationally backward classes and for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• Article 15(5) permits admission related special provisions for these groups in educational institutions, including private institutions, except minority educational institutions under Article 30(1).
• Article 15(6) permits special provisions, including up to 10 percent reservation, for economically weaker sections other than the classes covered by clauses (4) and (5).