IN YET one other setback to the Maharashtra authorities, Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the interim report of the State Backward Classes Commission, which had beneficial restoration of 27% quota for Other Backward Classes in native our bodies.
“The report itself mentions that the same is being prepared in absence of empirical study and research by the commission. Having failed to do so, the Commission should not have filed the interim report,” mentioned a bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and CT Ravikumar.
“As a result, it is not possible to permit any authority, much less the State Election Commission, to act upon the recommendations made in the said report. For the time being, we do not intend to dilate on the correctness of each of the observations made by the commission in the interim report. We, however, direct all concerned not to act upon the interim report as submitted,” the courtroom mentioned.
The bench additionally directed the State Election Commission to inform the election course of in native our bodies the place it’s due with out additional delay and to adjust to its earlier order by which it had directed that the OBC seats be handled as common class ones.
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On December 6, 2021, the apex courtroom had stayed elections to the 27 per cent OBC class in Maharashtra native our bodies, stating that the state authorities earlier than deciding to earmark the quota had not adopted the obligatory triple-test laid down by it.
The triple take a look at requirement is a three-pronged standards arrange by the highest courtroom in earlier judgments to mandate OBC reservation. It requires the state (1) to arrange a fee to conduct rigorous empirical inquiry into the character and implications of the backwardness qua native our bodies, throughout the state; (2) to specify the proportion of reservation required to be provisioned native physique sensible in mild of suggestions of the fee, in order to not fall foul of overbreadth; and (3) in any case such reservation shall not exceed combination of fifty per cent of the full seats reserved in favor of SCs/STs/OBCs taken collectively.
On December 15, Supreme Court requested the Maharashtra authorities and State Election Commission to renotify the 27 per cent seats reserved for OBCs as common class and maintain elections to them together with the polls to the remaining 73 per cent.
Subsequently, the state authorities moved an utility urging the courtroom to allow it to conduct the remaining election on the premise of knowledge/information already accessible with it in regards to the OBC class.
The courtroom, nevertheless, requested the state to provide the information accessible with it to the Maharashtra Backward Classes Commission in order that the fee could make appropriate suggestions to the state authorities.
Following this, Maharashtra once more approached the courtroom, saying it had supplied the information to the Backward Classes Commission, which in an interim report, “thought it fit to recommend, to restore and grant 27% reservation (which is already prescribed by various enactments) , excluding the areas notified by the PESA (Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 and subject to permissible upper limit of 50% to BCC/OBC category in local self-government ie excluding statutory reservation meant for SCs and STs”.
But on Thursday, the courtroom refused to simply accept the report.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
