---
title: "Fifty Percent Ceiling on Reservation: India Rule"
description: "The fifty percent ceiling caps total reservation in India at half of all seats, set by the 1992 Indra Sawhney verdict—see why states keep breaching it."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/fifty-percent-ceiling-on-reservation"
---

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Model Diplomat Research Team · Last reviewed June 22, 2026

TL;DR

- The fifty percent ceiling is a judicially imposed limit holding that total reservations in public employment and education must not exceed fifty percent except in extraordinary circumstances.
- Is the fifty percent ceiling written into the Constitution of India?
- Does the ten percent EWS quota count toward the fifty percent ceiling?
- When can a state lawfully exceed fifty percent reservation?
- How does Tamil Nadu maintain sixty-nine percent reservation?

[Civil Service & Diplomatic Exams](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/civil-services/glossary)Updated June 22, 2026

The fifty percent ceiling is a judicially imposed limit holding that total reservations in public employment and education must not exceed fifty percent except in extraordinary circumstances.

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In 2021, the Supreme Court in Jaishri Laxmanrao Patil struck down Maharashtra's Maratha reservation because the SEBC Act, 2018 pushed the state's total quota beyond fifty percent without an extraordinary circumstance.

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