Supreme Court Asks Madhya Pradesh High Court To Decide Challenge To 27% OBC Quota In 3 Months

The Supreme Court recently remanded a batch of appeals challenging the Madhya Pradesh Government's 27% reservation for the Other Backwards Classes(OBC) to the Madhya Pradesh High Court.The petitions challenge the 2019 Act which raised the reservation for OBCs in services to 27% from 14%.Since Scheduled Castes have 16% and Scheduled Tribes have 20% reservation in MP, raising the OBC reservation to 27% will take the reservation beyond the 50% ceiling. Along with the 10% EWS Quota, the total reservation will then become 73%.To balance interest of the parties, given the long pendency, the Court requested the Chief Justice of the High Court to constitute a special bench for hearing these matters. The bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe has requested that the special bench so constituted should dispose of the matters within three months. "We are of the opinion that the High Court of Madhya Pradesh will be in the best position to consider take a holistic view of the need as well as the legality of the affirmative action for the state. At the same time, we are also of the opinion that examining these issues independently, in exercise of our jurisdiction under Article 32, without the decision of the High Court will be in inappropriate."To briefly state, the MP Government had enacted the Madhya Pradesh Lok Seva (Anusuchit Jatiyon, Anusuchit Janjatiyon Aur Anya Pichda Vargon Ke Liye Arakshan) Adhiniyam, 1994, to provide reservation for backward classes. This was subsequent to the Indra Sawhney v. Union of India (1992), which set an upper ceiling of 50% on reservation.As per the MP Act, 14% reservations were provided to OBC in public employment for all posts, while 16% were provided to the Scheduled Castes, and 20% to the Scheduled Tribes, respectively. Subsequent to the Madhya Pradesh State Reorganisation Act, 2000(under which the State of Chhattisgarh was formed), the quantum of reservation continued as originally under the 1994. As for the State of Chhattisgarh, the reservation was enhanced for the Scheduled Tribes and the OBC to 58% through the Chhattisgarh Lok Seva (Anusuchit Jatiyon, Jan Jatiyon aur Anya Pichhade Vargon ke Liye Arakshan) (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam, 2011. This change was challenged in the Chhattisgarh High Court by way of a writ petition and was struck down in 2022. However, this order was then stayed by the Supreme Court in 2023.However, there were persisting demands that the reservation for OBC be increased to 27% in Madhya Pradesh. After years, the Government acceded to these demands and promulgated an Ordinance named Madhya Pradesh Lok Seva (Anusuchit Jatiyon, Anusuchit Janjatiyon Aur Anya Pichhade Vargon Ke Liye Arakshan) Sanshodhan Adhyadhesh, 2019, as per which the reservation for OBC was increased to 27%. This was challenged in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, and through an interim order, it was stayed till the pendency of the matter. The ordinance was replaced by the Act, and the Act was freshly challenged and stayed by the High Court. However, during the stay, the State Government published various advertisements with 27% reservation and even in existing/ongoing recruitments, except for those that have been challenged via writ petitions. This order was challenged in fresh writ petitions, and in one of the petitions, the High Court vide an order dated May 4, 2022, restrained the MP Government from providing reservation beyond 14%.The State Government then preferred a writ petition seeking that the High Court defer hearing the petitions, as some of the petitions have been heard by the Supreme Court. However, the High Court refused, and then the State preferred the present transfer petition before the Supreme Court.MP Government's submissionsIn the transfer petition, the MP Government submitted that the State has been preparing two separate lists for recruitment, just in case the enhanced reservation is set aside. However, the transfer petition should be dealt with by the Supreme Court as it is impacting the State's administration due to the lack of manpower.It had also filed an affidavit defending the 27% reservation, stating that backward communities collectively make up more than 85% of the State's population and remain severely disadvantaged despite their overwhelming demographic presence.It sought parity with the Supreme Court's interim order in the Chhattisgarh matter, in which the Court not only stayed the operation of the High Court's order but also allowed recruitments to continue subject to the Court's final decision.Rejecting the argument, the bench stated that the High Court of the State is more well-suited to entertain the matter. It also stated that the position obtained by the Chhattisgarh Government in the High Court can't be the "solitary guiding principle" for considering affirmative action."The demand for reservation as well as the measures that states may adopt for provisioning affirmative action will vary from State to State depending on the social...

Supreme Court Asks Madhya Pradesh High Court To Decide Challenge To 27% OBC Quota In 3 Months

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

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