Underlining that the constitutional mandate for democracy at the grassroots level must be “respected and ensured”, the Supreme Court, in an interim direction Tuesday, ordered the holding of local body elections in Maharashtra, with OBC reservation set to the percentage which existed before the submission of the Jayant Kumar Banthia Commission report in July 2022. While hearing the matter, Justice Surya Kant, presiding over a two-judge bench, remarked that reservation in India has become like a train journey where people who have already entered a coach do not want to let anyone else in. “The thing is, in this country, the reservation business has become like a railway. Those who have entered the bogie, they don’t want anyone else to enter. That is the whole game,” he said. The bench, also comprising Justice N K Singh, asked the State Election Commission to notify the polls within four weeks and said efforts should be made to complete it within four months. The elections have been held up for some years now – the last local body polls were held in 2016-17 – due to a dispute over OBC reservation. In August 2022, Supreme Court ordered that status quo be maintained in the matter. The Jayant Kumar Banthia Commission, set up by the Maharashtra government in March 2022 to examine the question of OBC reservation in local bodies, recommended 27% representation for OBCs within the total 50% reservation ceiling. With the report under challenge, the bench said that the polls will be subject to the outcome of the petitions challenging it. On Tuesday, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for a petitioner, stressed the need for a study on political backwardness, distinct from social and educational backwardness, to ascertain need for political reservation. He said the commission had applied reservation automatically to persons in OBC list without looking into political backwardness. He said the commission had gone with the existing list of OBCs without fulfilling ‘triple test’ laid down by the Supreme Court. A separate criterion, he said, should apply to ascertain Politically Backward Classes (PBCs). To Justice Kant’s comments likening reservation to a train journey, Sankaranarayanan said, “And bogies are being added at the back also”. Justice Kant said that states are bound to identify more classes when they follow inclusive principles. “There will be social backward class, politically backwards class, and economically backward classes. Why should they be deprived of the benefit? Why should it be confined to one particular family or group?” he asked. He asked SG Tushar Mehta, who appeared for Maharashtra, “Whatever the law you have formulated, wrong or good, you have already identified certain classes of OBCs. Why can’t polls be held as per that law without prejudice to the contentions of petitioners?” “Is there any logic? Today, all bureaucrats are occupying all municipal corporations and panchayats and taking major policy decisions. Because of all this litigation, a complete democratic process has been stalled. Officers have no accountability. Why not allow them to hold elections as per the present data?” he said. “Suppose whosoever has been declared as OBC, based on that, let the elections be held, subject to outcome of the proceedings. After all, it is an election for a tenure. Assuming someone has been wrongly included or excluded, inclusion may not be an issue. Exclusion might cause heartburn. Assuming that there is an erroneous exclusion, how is it going to make a difference? They will have an opportunity (next election). It is not a permanent election for the whole life,” he said. Appearing for some of the petitioners, Senior Advocate Indira Jaising said the local body polls in Maharashtra have been “withheld for far too long”. “They are running all representative bodies, right from gram panchayats up to zila parishads, only through their chosen bureaucrats and taking major policy decisions,” she said. Justice Kant pointed out that in the absence of local bodies, bureaucrats were running the show and “one of them has, as it appears, started leasing out and auctioning prime properties”.
