The Supreme Court on Tuesday drew a sharp analogy between India’s reservation system and a railway compartment, observing that those who have availed its benefits often resist inclusion of new groups.
A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh made the remarks while hearing a plea challenging the grant of 27% reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Maharashtra’s local body elections. The petition was filed by Mangesh Shankar Sasane, who contended that the state’s Jayant Kumar Banthia Commission failed to ascertain the political backwardness of the OBCs before recommending the quota.
“The thing is, in this country, the reservation business has become like a railway. Those who have entered the compartment don’t want anyone else to enter. This is the whole game. That is precisely the game of the petitioner also,” Justice Kant remarked.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing the petitioner, argued that political backwardness should be considered distinct from social and educational backwardness, and the mere identification of a group as OBC did not automatically qualify it for political reservation. “Within the OBCs, politically backward and socially backward classes should be separately identified for the purpose of reservation,” he said.
Responding to this, Justice Kant said that a principle of inclusivity must guide such exercises, and more groups are likely to be identified by states. “There will be social backward class, politically backward 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 added.
The court issued notice to the Maharashtra government and tagged the plea with other pending matters on the OBC reservation issue.
Meanwhile, in a related matter concerning local body elections in Maharashtra, the bench directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to notify the polls within four weeks. The elections are to be conducted based on the status that existed prior to the Banthia Commission report of 2022. The SEC was instructed to conclude the electoral process within four months but was granted liberty to seek additional time, if necessary.
The court clarified that the outcome of the elections would remain subject to the final decisions in the pending petitions before it. Notably, on August 22, 2022, the apex court had directed the Maharashtra government and SEC to maintain status quo regarding the local body poll process.
