MP HC Quashes 27% OBC Quota, Restores 14% Cap Within 50% Limit
The then Kamal Nath government promulgated an ordinance on March eight, 2019, increasing OBC quota from 14 percent to 27 percent in government jobs and educational institutions.
Bhopal: In a significant development, the Madhya Pradesh high court on Friday struck down the 2019 law of the state government, providing a 27 percent quota for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), calling it ‘unconstitutional’.
In its 159-page judgement, a division bench of Justices Anand Pathak and Vinay Saraf restored the OBC reservation to 14 percent, contending that it found no special circumstances to breach the 50 percent ceiling on the reservation to increase the OBC quota from 14 percent to 27 percent.
“The verdict was delivered after the court examined documents, data and tables”, Advocate General (AG) Prashant Singh, appearing for the Madhya Pradesh government in the case, said.
He clarified that the contention was the increase in the OBC quota in the government jobs and educational institutes from 14 percent to 27 percent by the state government, and not over reservation for the backward communities itself.
The then Kamal Nath government promulgated an ordinance on March eight, 2019, increasing OBC quota from 14 percent to 27 percent in government jobs and educational institutions.
It became law five months later.
Later, Public Interest Litigations (PILs) were filed in the high court challenging the law, leading to suspension of the move to increase the OBC quota from 14 percent to 27 percent.
Amid protests from various sections, the then Shivraj Singh Chouhan government adopted a formula, keeping on hold 13 percent of posts, for which recruitments were done subsequently, after filling 14 percent quota for the OBC, till the disposal of the case.
The high court bench directed the state government to fill the 13 percent held-back posts within three months by de-reserving them.
Madhya Pradesh unit Congress president Jitu Patwari accused the state government of not being able to properly present the case before the high court, leading it to strike down the 27 percent OBC quota law.
He said that the Congress will move the supreme court to challenge the high court verdict.
The OBC Mahasabha expressed displeasure over the verdict.
Lokendra Gurjar, a member of the national core committee and one of the petitioners, said that the outfit will contest the verdict in the supreme court and launch a statewide agitation to secure just rights of the OBC.
The ruling BJP is yet to react to the development.
