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Informist, Monday, Aug 5, 2024

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court today refused to stay for now the Calcutta High Court's order scrapping the Other Backward Classes status of several communities in West Bengal, granted since 2010. As a result of the high court's order, approximately 500,000 Other Backward Class certificates issued under the West Bengal Backward Classes (Other Than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012 were cancelled. The court also issued notices to Amal Chandra Das and other parties--the initial litigants in the case--and sought information from the state government with regard to the list. 

 

The Supreme Court was hearing a petition filed by the state government, challenging the Calcutta High Court's order. 

 

"State (Bengal) shall answer what quantifiable data was followed to identify the 77 communities as OBC. State shall show if there is lack of consultation to identify 37 communities as OBC," said the apex court. The court asked the West Bengal government to show if any consultation was carried out with the West Bengal Commission for Backward Class to identify the other backward classes and also the nature of surveys that were adhered to by the government. The bench asked the state government to file an affidavit regarding this in a week.

 

On May 22, the high court struck down several portions of the West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012. "The selection of 77 classes of Muslims as backward is an affront to the Muslim community as a whole. This court's mind is not free from doubt that the said community has been treated as a commodity for political ends. This is clear from the chain of events that led to the classification of the 77 classes as OBCs and their inclusion to be treated as a vote bank," the high court had said.

 

The high court had said those from these groups who are already in service, have availed of reservation, or have otherwise succeeded in the selection processes of the state will not be affected by the order. The court also quashed the state's executive orders from Mar 5, 2010, to May 11, 2012, classifying several other groups as Other Backward Classes. All the directions will be given prospective effect, it said.

 

The high court was hearing public interest litigation initiated by Amal Chandra Das, who said all OBC certificates given out after 2010 had bypassed the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes Act of 1993. Das had said those actually from backward classes were not given their due certificates.

 

Today, advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for the state government, said that as a consequence of the statute being struck down all reservations in the state of West Bengal had come to a halt. Jaising sought a stay of the high court order.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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