Maharashtra: Supreme Court stays 27 per cent OBC quota in local body polls

Supreme Court of India. File Pic

The Supreme Court stayed the 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in Maharashtra local body elections until further orders, on Monday.

As per a report in Live Law, a bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and CT Ravikumar passed the order in writ petitions filed challenging the Maharashtra Ordinance which introduced the OBC quota in local body polls and the consequent notifications issued by the State Election Commission (SEC) to give effect to the same.

The bench observed that the 27 per cent quota cannot be implemented without setting up a commission and without collecting data in relation to inadequacy of representation at the local government level. "Without setting up of commission to collect data local government wise, it is not open to the State Election Commission to provide for reservation of OBC category. That is the first step which ought to have been done", the bench stated in the order.

The court said that the SEC cannot be permitted to proceed with the election program already notified in respect of OBC reservation category. The rest of the program can proceed for other reserved seats including general category, the bench clarified. It also ordered that the SEC shall not notify the reserved seats in the OBC category for mid-term or other general elections till further orders.

The bench ordered that the state government brought the Ordinance without following the three tests laid down in Vikas Kishanrao Gawali v State Of Maharashtra and Ors LL 2021 SC 13 regarding reservation in local bodies. The tests are - (1) Establish a Commission to conduct rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness qua local bodies, within the state; (2) to specify the proportion of reservation required to be provisioned local body wise in light of recommendations of the commission, so as not to fall foul of overbreadth; and (3) in any case such reservation shall not exceed aggregate of 50 per cent of the total seats reserved in favour of SCs/STs/OBCs taken together.