The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Maharashtra government’s 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in elections to local bodies in the state.
The bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and C.T. Ravikumar passed the order on a plea challenging the Maharashtra ordinance, which had brought in the 27% OBC quota for local body polls.
The Apex Court directed the state election commission not to proceed with the election process on the 27% reserved seats for the OBC candidates. However, the rest of the election can proceed for other reserved seats, including the general category.
The bench observed that 27% OBC quota could not have been implemented without setting up a commission and collecting data regarding the inadequacy of representation local government-wise.
The Apex Court ruling overrides the state government ordinance for reserving seats for OBC candidates. The bench observed that the government’s political compulsion can’t be a ground to undermine its verdict.
Tomorrow is the last date for filing nominations for local body polls. The Maharashtra Government was represented by Senior Advocate Shekhar Naphade while the petitioner’s counsel was Senior Advocate Vikas Singh.
In its cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the Maharashtra government had decided to bring in an ordinance to grant OBC quota in by-elections without crossing the Supreme Court-mandated 50% ceiling on reservation.
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Maharashtra Governor B.S. Koshyari has signed the ordinance providing for the OBC quota in rural local body polls on Thursday, a day after the state cabinet sent him a revised version.
Koshyari had returned the original ordinance after receiving multiple queries. The Maharashtra government had passed the ordinance by amending the state’s gram panchayat law.
The quota had been quashed by the Supreme Court in March. The ordinance allowed for OBC quota in rural bodies with the rider that once combined with the SC and ST reservations, the combined quota will not cross the 50% limit. Also, the OBC quota will not cross 27% of the seats, in keeping with the existing state legislation.