Citing Political Motivations and Constitutional Concerns to Mamata Banerjee
In a major setback to the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government, the Calcutta High Court ordered the cancellation of OBC certificates issued after 2010, declaring the reservations under the 2012 Act for state services illegal. The court quashed executive orders classifying 42 classes as OBCs from March 2010 to May 2012. It directed the state’s Backward Classes Welfare Department to consult the Commission and present a report to the legislature for updating the OBC list.
“The court is of the view that the selection of 77 classes of Muslims as Backward is an affront to the Muslim community as a whole. This court’s mind is not free from doubt that the said community has been treated as a commodity for political ends,” said a division bench of justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Rajasekhar Mantha.
“Identification of the classes in the aid community as OBCs for electoral gains would leave them at the mercy of the concerned political establishment and may defeat and deny other rights. Such reservation is therefore also an affront to Democracy and the Constitution of India as a whole.”The judgment said.
Roughly 500,000 people are likely to be affected by the judgment.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee rejected the court’s decision, vowing to maintain OBC reservations in the state. Addressing a poll rally, she stated that the Bill was passed constitutionally, following a comprehensive survey. Banerjee announced plans to appeal to the Supreme Court, “The OBC reservation quota introduced by the West Bengal government will continue. We had drafted the Bill after conducting a house-to-house survey, and it was passed by the cabinet and the Assembly,”
Union Minister Amit Shah blamed the Mamta Government for appeasement.
DATA DERIVED FROM HINDUSTAN TIMES
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