Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Maharashtra, told the bench that they have filed an application pertaining to the order passed by the top court on the stay on the election on 27 per cent seats that are reserved for the OBC
Supreme Court. File Pic
The Supreme Court has said it would hear on December 15 the matter in which it had last week stayed till further orders the local body election in Maharashtra on seats reserved for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
ADVERTISEMENT
A bench of justices AM Khanwilkar and CT Ravikumar said it would deal with the matter on Wednesday as the elections are stalled in the state. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Maharashtra, told the bench that they have filed an application pertaining to the order passed by the top court on the stay on the election on 27 per cent seats that are reserved for the OBC.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for one of the intervenors, told the bench that election on all seats may be stayed as staying it only on seats reserved for the OBC causes great prejudice to the community. Dave urged the apex court to find some “equitable solution”, otherwise the OBC would suffer. “We are continuing tomorrow, you can argue tomorrow,” the bench observed. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta requested the bench if the matter can be taken up at 2 pm on Wednesday.
"Let this matter be taken first," the bench said. "First, we will deal with this because the elections are stalled," the bench observed. On December 6, the top court had stayed till further orders the local body election in the state on seats reserved for the OBC. It had made it clear that the election process for the other seats would continue.
The apex court had passed the order while hearing two pleas, including the one assailing the provisions inserted/amended through an Ordinance permitting reservation for the category of backward class of citizens up to 27 per cent uniformly throughout Maharashtra in the concerned local bodies. “As a result, the State Election Commission shall desist from proceeding with the Election Programme already notified in respect of reserved seats for ‘OBC category only', in the concerned local bodies,” the bench had said.
“The election programme in respect of all the local bodies across the state in respect of reserved seats for category Other Backward Class, shall remain stayed until further orders,” the apex court had said in its last week's order. It had been observed that a similar issue had come up earlier before it and a three-judge bench had delivered a judgement in which the court had noted the triple test to be followed before provisioning such reservation for the OBC category.
It had noted that this was a reiteration of the exposition of the Constitution Bench on the issue of quantum of the reservation to be provided for OBCs.
The counsel appearing for Maharashtra had argued that the provision in the Ordinance is in conformity with the decision of the apex court and it is only providing for reservation to the category of backward class citizen up to 27 per cent.
In March this year, the apex court had said that reservation in favour of OBCs in local bodies in Maharashtra cannot exceed an aggregate of 50 per cent of the total seats reserved for Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and OBCs taken together. The apex court, while reading down section 12(2)(c) of the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act 1961 which provided 27 per cent reservation for persons belonging to the backward class, had also quashed the notifications issued by the state election commission in 2018 and 2020 to the extent of providing reservation of seats in local bodies concerned for OBCs.
Also Read: Supreme Court directs Centre, states to provide ration, voter ID, Aadhaar to sex workers
It had referred to the triple condition noted in the Constitution bench verdict of 2010, including setting up a dedicated commission to conduct a contemporaneous rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness qua local bodies within the state.
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
