Bihar govt to move Supreme Court against High Court ban on quota in local bodies

Soon after the Patna HC order on October 4, state election commission had deferred the Bihar local bodies polls, which were scheduled from October 10.

Bihar Advocate General Lalit Kishore confirmed to The Indian Express: “The state government is moving Supreme Court against the HC order.”

The Bihar government has decided to move Supreme Court against Patna High Court’s order, saying the government cannot provide reservation in local bodies till it complied with a 2021 Supreme Court order on having triple test that included setting up a dedicated commission to quantify backwardness and put up 50 per cent reservation ceiling.

Soon after the Patna HC order on October 4, state election commission had deferred the Bihar local bodies polls, which were scheduled from October 10.

Bihar Advocate General Lalit Kishore confirmed to The Indian Express: “The state government is moving Supreme Court against the HC order.”

Bihar finance minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said: “We are upset with the Patna HC order. We have pleaded that the situation in Bihar is different from Maharashtra where the local bodies polls were deferred last year after SC said about having a mandatory triple test if the government wanted to reserve seats for OBC and EBCs. The SC order had referred to its 2010 order in which it was said that reservation criteria in local self-government had to be different from ones in jobs and higher education.”

Santosh Singh

Santosh Singh is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express since June 2008. He covers Bihar with main focus on politics, society and governance. Investigative and explanatory stories are also his forte. Singh has 25 years of experience in print journalism covering Bihar, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. ... Read More

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