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HC blocks OBC reservation for UP civic body elections
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Tuesday quashed an Uttar Pradesh government notification that instituted reservations for OBCs in local body polls, and ordered the authorities to go ahead with the delayed elections, sparking a political controversy.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Tuesday quashed an Uttar Pradesh government notification that instituted reservations for other backward classes (OBCs) in local body polls, and ordered the authorities to go ahead with the delayed elections, sparking a political controversy.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath said his government will immediately set up a commission to finalise OBC reservation, and said polls will be held only after the quota is instituted, even as opposition parties blamed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for failing to protect political reservations for backward groups.
The government is likely to move the Supreme Court on the subject, according to people aware of the matter.
The court ordered that the state government should notify the polls “immediately” as the term of several municipalities would end by January 31. Justices DK Upadhya and Saurav Lavania annulled the government’s December 5 notification that provided reservation in urban body polls for OBCs, apart from those for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women.
The order came on a batch of petitions that argued that the government had announced the quota without following guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court.
In 2010, a Constitution bench of the top court laid down a “triple test” for reserving seats in local body polls: A dedicated commission to conduct contemporaneous rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness with respect to local bodies, specifying the proportion of reservation in light of the commission’s proposals, and not exceeding the 50% quota cap as laid down by the top court in a landmark 1992 judgment. A three-judge bench relied on this five-judge bench verdict in March 2021 while holding that triple test is a precondition for reservation to OBCs in local bodies.
The high court’s order mirrors similar developments in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha – all three states tried to institute OBC quotas earlier this year but the judiciary struck down the government notifications for not adhering to the triple test. Madhya Pradesh later set up a commission and its report was accepted by the court.
In Uttar Pradesh, backward groups were crucial to the BJP’s phenomenal electoral performance earlier this year, when it became the first party in three decades to return to power in the state.
“My government would only opt for elections once a commission is set up and reservation benefits to OBCs in local body polls are ensured through the triple test method. If required, the state government would, in pursuance of the HC directives, also take legal opinion on moving the apex court,” Adityanath said.
People in the know of things said that chief minister’s announcement meant that the already delayed civic polls, would be pushed back further. The government is expected to quickly declare the formation of the commission.
The urban local body polls, last held in 2017, were expected to be conducted by December this year. The elections are the last test of state’s urban pulse before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP has traditionally done well in these polls.
UP now has 762 urban local bodies, including 17 mayoral contests, 200 nagar palika parishads and 545 nagar panchayats.
Many government ministers, including prominent OBC faces such as deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya and jal shakti minister Swatantra Dev Singh began asserting that the government will not let OBC rights be harmed.
“Under no circumstance would we allow OBCs being deprived of reservation. The government will do whatever it takes to ensure that,” Maurya said.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP government of shedding “crocodile tears” and said like OBCs, the government will also snatch the rights of Dalits. “That is why Dalits and OBCs must come together to defeat this BJP government’s plan. Remove BJP, save reservation,” Yadav said.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, too, appeared to be on the same page. “The HC decision establishes the anti-OBC, anti-reservation mindset of BJP and its government,” she tweeted. “The OBCs would surely make the BJP government pay for its mistake of not getting the OBC reservation fixed through triple test method on time,” she added.
Even some allies of the BJP, such as the Apna Dal (Sonelal), which counts the backward group of Kurmis as a key base, appeared uncomfortable.
“We will study the HC order in detail before taking a final decision but if required, we will even approach the Supreme Court on the issue,” the party tweeted.
Sanjay Nishad, a cabinet minister and head of the Nishad Party, said, “We have spoken to the chief minister. The HC ruling makes it clear that there are discrepancies on the reservation issue and these need to be sorted out so that backwards, like my riverine community, are able to enjoy reservation benefits.”
Urban development minister AK Sharma held a meeting and said the BJP will protect OBC rights. “In the notification for the polls, issued on December 5, the state government had provided for 27% reservation to OBCs,” Sharma said. “It is important to note that the petitioners had themselves prayed before the court that civic polls, 2022, be held sans OBC reservation,” he said in a note.
