In a significant legal battle, the West Bengal government approached the Supreme Court on Tuesday, requesting an urgent hearing to stay a Calcutta High Court verdict that recently revoked the Other Backward Classes (OBC) status of several castes, predominantly Muslim, affecting their reservation benefits in public sector employment and state educational institutions. The apex court has scheduled to hear the case on August 27.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the state, articulated before a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, the pressing need to suspend the High Court’s decision. This ruling has notably impacted the admission processes of candidates who have cleared the NEET-UG, 2024, with Sibal emphasizing, “We need a stay of the high courtโs verdictโฆ the issue of scholarships is pending and the NEET admissions will be affected.”
The plea for a stay arises as students queue for validation of their OBC status, crucial for securing admissions to medical colleges among other institutions. In response to the stateโs plea, the Chief Justice confirmed, “We will hear it on Tuesday (August 27).”
This judicial review follows the Supreme Court’s directive on August 5 demanding the state provide quantifiable data on the socio-economic backwardness and the inadequate representation of the newly included castes in public jobs. The court also issued notices to the private litigants opposing the state governmentโs moves and requested West Bengal to detail any consultations conducted with the state’s backward classes panel prior to the inclusion of 37 castes, primarily Muslim, in the OBC list.
The contentious High Court ruling on May 22, 2024, deemed illegal the reservation status granted to several castes since 2010, critiquing the criteria used for their selection. The High Court pointed out that “Religion indeed appears to have been the sole criterion” in these declarations, labeling the selection of 77 Muslim classes as an “affront to the Muslim community as a whole.”
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The High Court’s judgment also accused the state of using the community as a political tool, stating, “This is clear from the chain of events that led to the classification of the 77 classes as OBCs and their inclusion to be treated as a vote bank.” However, it clarified that the current services and benefits already availed by individuals from these classes would not be rescinded.
