Supreme Court rejects report of Maharashtra backward classes panel

“As a result, it is not possible to permit any authority, much less the State Election Commission, to act upon the recommendations made in the said report. For the time being, we do not intend to dilate on the correctness of each of the observations made by the commission in the interim report. We, however, direct all concerned not to act upon the interim report as submitted,” the court said.

The bench also directed the State Election Commission to notify the election process in local bodies where it is due without further delay and to comply with its earlier order by which it had directed that the OBC seats be treated as general category ones.

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On December 6, 2021, the apex court had stayed elections to the 27 per cent OBC category in Maharashtra local bodies, stating that the state government before deciding to earmark the quota had not followed the mandatory triple-test laid down by it.

The triple test requirement is a three-pronged criteria set up by the top court in previous judgments to mandate OBC reservation. It requires the state (1) to set up 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.

On December 15, Supreme Court asked the Maharashtra government and State Election Commission to renotify the 27 per cent seats reserved for OBCs as general category and hold elections to them along with the polls to the remaining 73 per cent.

Subsequently, the state government moved an application urging the court to permit it to conduct the remaining election on the basis of information/data already available with it concerning the OBC category.

The court, however, asked the state to produce the data available with it to the Maharashtra Backward Classes Commission so that the commission can make suitable recommendations to the state government.

Following this, Maharashtra again approached the court, saying it had provided the data to the Backward Classes Commission, which in an interim report, “thought it fit to recommend, to restore and grant 27% reservation (which is already prescribed by various enactments), excluding the areas notified by the PESA (Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 and subject to permissible upper limit of 50% to BCC/OBC category in local self-government i.e. excluding statutory reservation meant for SCs and STs”.

But on Thursday, the court refused to accept the report.