Allahabad High Court orders urban local body polls minus OBC quota, UP govt to file appeal in Supreme court

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in a statement, said his government would constitute a survey commission to ensure that the benefits of the reservation are provided to the OBCs on the basis of the “triple test”.

Earlier in the day, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court said that until the “triple test/conditions” as mandated by the Supreme Court is completed in all respects by the state government, no reservation for the Backward Class of citizens shall be provided in the urban local body polls.

“…since the term of municipalities has either ended or shall be coming to an end by January 1, 2023, and the process of completion of triple test/conditions being arduous, is likely to take considerable time, it is directed that the State Government/State Election Commission shall notify the elections immediately,” the Bench of Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Saurabh Lavania said in their order.

As mandated by the Supreme Court, the “triple test” requires the state
1. to set up a commission to conduct a 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 an aggregate of 50 per cent of the total seats reserved in favour of SCs/STs/OBCs taken together.

“While notifying the elections, the seats and offices of chairpersons, except those to be reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, shall be notified as for general/open category,” the High Court said in its order on Tuesday after hearing a bunch of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) alleging that the entire exercise of reservation of seats in the municipalities is being carried out by the state government in “complete derogation and defiance” of the mandate of the Supreme Court in the case of Suresh Mahajan vs State of Madhya Pradesh.

The petitioners submitted that the Supreme Court clearly mandated the states and Union Territories and their respective Election Commissions that until the “triple test” is completed in all respects by the state government, no reservation for OBCs can be provided.

Directing officials to “immediately notify” the elections, the Lucknow Bench of the High Court remarked: “We understand that collection and collation of materials by the dedicated Commission is a humongous and time-taking task, however, the formation of elected municipal bodies through election cannot be delayed for the reason of constitutional mandate contained in Article 243-U of the Constitution of India (which mandates that election to constitute a municipality shall be completed before the expiry of its term). Thus to fortify the democratic character of governance of society, it is essential that the elections are held at the earliest which cannot wait.”

The court also said that the election notification shall include “reservation for women in terms of the constitutional provisions”.

The court said that once the dedicated Commission is constituted “for undertaking the exercise of conducting an empirical study as to the nature and implications of backwardness for the purposes of providing reservation to Backward Class of citizens in the context of elections to the urban local bodies, the claim of transgenders for their inclusion amongst Backward Class of citizens shall also be considered”.

In case, the term of a municipal body comes to an end before an elected body is formed, the High Court directed that the day-to-day affairs should be conducted by a three-member committee.

The committee will be headed by a district magistrate, and an executive officer or chief executive officer or municipal commissioner shall be a member, while the third member shall be a district-level officer nominated by the district magistrate, the court said, adding that these committees “shall discharge only day-to-day functions of the municipal body and shall not take any major policy decision”.

On December 5, the Urban Development Department of the UP government announced reservations for the seats of mayor in municipal corporations and chairpersons of nagar palika parishads and nagar panchayats.
At present, there are 762 urban local bodies in UP, including 17 municipal corporations, 200 nagar palika parishads and 545 nagar panchayats.

In 17 municipal corporations, two mayor seats were reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and one for SC women. The mayor seat in Agra was reserved for SC women, while Jhansi was for SC. Four mayor seats were reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBCs). While Aligarh and Mathura-Vrindavan were reserved for OBC women, Meerut and Prayagraj were reserved for OBC candidates.

Three mayoral seats—Ayodhya, Saharanpur and Moradabad— were reserved for women.
In seats of chairpersons in 200 Nagar Palika Parishads (NPP), 27 seats were reserved for SCs and 54 for OBCs.
In 545 nagar panchayats, 73 seats of chairpersons were reserved for SCs, one for Scheduled Tribe (ST) women and 147 for OBCs.