Reasonable Classification under Article 14

Article 14 guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of the laws to every person. It permits reasonable classification for differential treatment, but prohibits class legislation that arbitrarily grants privileges or imposes burdens upon a selected group.

The two-part test

A legislative classification satisfies Article 14 only when both of the following conditions are met.

• First, the classification must rest on an intelligible differentia that clearly distinguishes persons or things included in the group from those excluded from it.
• Second, that differentia must have a rational nexus with the object that the legislation seeks to achieve. A clear distinction alone is insufficient if it is unrelated to the law's purpose.

Application of the test

The Supreme Court articulated these requirements in decisions including Budhan Choudhry v. State of Bihar and Ram Krishna Dalmia v. Justice S.R. Tendolkar. The classification may use different bases, but it cannot be arbitrary, artificial or evasive.

• Article 14 requires similarly situated persons to be treated alike; it does not require identical treatment of persons placed in materially different circumstances.
• Courts examine the law's object and the basis of differentiation, but they do not invalidate every under-inclusive or imperfect classification merely because a theoretically better classification was possible.
• A classification that fails either limb is discriminatory and therefore violates Article 14.

How UPSC asks this