MP Govt To Resolve Vexed OBC Reservation Issue Through Consensus

Bhopal: In a first of its kind move in the last half-a-decade, the Madhya Pradesh government on Thursday sought to resolve the vexed Other Backward Class (OBC) reservation issue through consensus by taking the Opposition leaders into confidence.

Chief minister Mohan Yadav convened an all-party meeting here in the afternoon to deliberate on the issue and pass an unanimous resolution to implement a 27 percent quota for the OBC, a senior functionary of the ruling BJP said.

This was the first time in the past half-a-decade the BJP government in the state has taken the initiative to resolve a contentious issue through consensus with the Opposition political parties, the BJP leader said.

“I had called the all-party meeting to discuss the issue and find out solutions through consensus on how to implement the 27 percent quota for OBC, pending in the court for long”, Mr. Yadav said after the meeting.

The chief minister said several petitions have been filed in the supreme court on the issue and his government is exploring ways to resolve the issue as early as possible.

Mr. Yadav said that the state government is currently implementing 14 per quota for the OBC in the various recruitments in government jobs and educational institutions as per the existing rules, leaving the remaining 13 percent quota for the OBC unfulfilled.

He indicated that the 13 percent quota for the OBC will be filled up once the court disposes of the matter.

The row over the 27 percent reservation for OBC in Madhya Pradesh erupted in March 2019 when the previous Kamal Nath government raised the quota for the OBC from 14 percent to 27 percent in the state.

The Madhya Pradesh high court later stayed the enhanced quota for the OBC, citing the 50 percent reservation ceiling.

Around 70 related petitions were filed in the high court.

In 2022, the state government introduced 87:13 formula, under which 13 percent posts were not filled up till the disposal of cases relating to the matter pending in the court.

The government’s move was challenged in the high court.

On January 28 this year, the high court rejected the petitions challenging the 87:13 formula of the state government.

On February 13 this year, the state government moved the supreme court seeking an early hearing of the OBC quota issue.

Sources said the state government wants to study the legal implications in the implementation of the 27 percent quota for the OBC, before taking a final decision on it.

Before 2019, Madhya Pradesh had a reservation of 14 percent for the OBC, 20 percent for ST, and 16 percent for SC- totalling 50 percent.

The enhanced OBC quota has raised total reservation to 63 percent, breaching the 50 percent quota ceiling.