Advocatetanmoy Law Library
57. The Constitution (Fifty-seventh amendment) Act, 1987—The Constitution (Fifty-first
Amendment) Act, 1984 was enacted to provide for reservation of seats in the house of the people for
scheduled tribes in Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh and also for reservation
of seats for scheduled tribes in the legislative assemblies of Nagaland and Meghalaya by suitably
amending articles 330 and 332. Even though these states are predominantly tribal, the underlying
objective of the aforesaid act was to ensure that the members of scheduled tribes in these areas do not
fail to secure a minimal representation because of their inability to compete with the advanced
sections of the people. The Constitution (fifty-first amendment) Act, though formally enforced, could
not be fully implemented unless parallel action is taken to determine the seats which are to be
reserved for Scheduled tribes in these areas. The number of seats reserved for Schedule Castes and
Schedule Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of any State under article 332 of the constitution will
have to be determined having regard to the provisions of article 332 (3) of the Constitution. However,
in view of the historical background with respect to the areas comprised in north-eastern states, the
circumstances obtaining in these areas in the State of development of Scheduled Tribes and other
relevant considerations, it was considered necessary to provide for special arrangements with regard
to the reservation for Scheduled Tribes in these areas for a temporary period so as to facilitate easy
transition of these areas to the normal arrangements as envisaged in the Constitution. Article 332 of
the Constitution was further amended for making a temporary provision, until the re-adjustment of
seats on the basis of first census after the year 2000 under article 170 of the Constitution for these
states, for the determination of the number of seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes. This amendment
seeks to provide that if all the seats in the Legislative Assembly of such States in existence on the date
of coming into force of this constitution amendment act are held by the members of Scheduled Tribes,
all the seats except one shall be reserved for scheduled tribes and in any other case such number of
seats as bears to the total number of seats a proportion not less than the number of members belonging
to Scheduled Tribes in the existing assembly bears to the total number of seats in the existing
assembly. The Act achieves these objectives.
