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Supreme Court issues notice on plea challenging exclusion of OBCs from scope of triple test for reservation in Bihar Municipal elections

The Supreme Court has issued notice on a petition raising the issue of exclusion of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) from the scope of the ‘triple test’ for reservation in the Municipal Elections of Bihar.

The Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice KV Viswanathan on a petition challenging the Patna High Court jugment of January 31, 2024.

The question had initially come up before the Division Bench of the Patna High Court, which declared on October 4, 2022 that the reservation of seats for OBC and Extremely Backward Classes in urban local body elections of the state was illegal, as the quotas ‘failed’ two out of three tests set by the Apex Court in Vikas Kishanrao Gawali vs State of Maharashtra & Ors. LL 2021 SC 13.

The High Court further directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to re-notify seats reserved for OBC in the local polls as general category seats.

When review proceedings were initiated in respect of the judgment by the Bihar government, a ‘Dedicated Commission’ was formed to complete the ‘triple test’ exercise.

The Commission submitted a report, which excluded OBCs from the ambit of the survey.

The petitioner then filed a fresh writ petition before the High Court, which passed the verdict on January 31, 2024. This judgment concluded that the earlier verdict of October, 2022 did not hold consideration of reservation only for EBCs to be illegal and bad.

It said th origins of the triple test lie in the Constitution Bench ruling in Dr K Krishna Murthy vs Union of India (2010), which focused on the interpretation of Article 243D(6) and Article 243T(6) of the Constitution.

It said these articles authorised the enactment of laws allowing reservations for backward classes in panchayats and municipal bodies, respectively.

In the backdrop of this judgment, the top court of the country in Vikas Kishanrao Gawali propounded the triple test, which is to be followed before providing reservation to the OBC category. In terms of this test, the government shall:

a) Set up a dedicated commission to conduct a rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness in local bodies;

b) Specify the proportion of reservation required in local bodies in light of recommendations of the commission, so as not to fall foul of overbreadth;

c) Ensure reservation for SCs/STs/OBCs taken together does not exceed an aggregate of 50 per cent of the total seats.

The petition was moved through and argued by Advocate-on-Record Rahul Shyam Bhandari.

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