Chennai, Aug 1 (Reporter) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M K Stalin on Thursday hailed the Supreme Court order upholding 3 per cent internal reservation for Arunthathiyar community in the State and said it was another recognition of its Dravidian Model journey to establish social justice. In a social media post, he said it was heartening that the seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court had upheld the Act passed in the State Assembly. "Today's Supreme Court judgment is another recognition of our #DravidianModel journey to establish #SocialJustice social liberation of oppressed people!", he said. "A formal committee was formed and based on the data collected through it, Kalaignar (Late CM and DMK Patriarch M Karunanidhi) accorded 3 per cent internal reservation for Arunthathiyar community", he added. "I introduced a Bill in the State Assembly and it was passed", Mr Stalin said, adding, "It is heartening that the seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court has upheld the Act". Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court pronounced its verdict on the legal question of whether a State Government was empowered to make a sub-classification of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes for providing reservation in admissions and public jobs. A seven-judge Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, in a majority judgement, overruled the E.V. Chinnaiah verdict, which had determined that State Legislatures could sub-classify Scheduled Castes for grant of reservation in admissions and public jobs. The seven-judge Bench also gave the nod for the Tamil Nadu Assembly’s legislative competence to enact the Arunthathiyar Reservation Act. It may be recalled that in 2004, a five-judge Constitution Bench hearing the case of E.V. Chinnaiah vs State of Andhra Pradesh had held that SCs and STs are homogenous groups and hence, States cannot further sub-classify them to grant quota inside quota for more deprived and weaker castes in these groups. The Chinnaiah judgment had held that any sub-classification of the Scheduled Castes would violate Article 14 (right to equality) of the Constitution. The 2004 verdict had stated that only Parliament, and not State legislatures, can exclude castes deemed to be SC from the Presidential List under Article 341 of the Constitution. However, it was overruled by a Seven-member Bench today...////...