The Bihar government has taken a significant legal step by filing a petition in the Supreme Court challenging a recent ruling by the Patna High Court concerning reservation quotas. Filed through, Advocate Manish Kumar, the petition contests the High Court's decision to invalidate Bihar's amendment Acts of 2023, which aimed to raise reservation quotas from 50 per cent to 65 per cent for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and Economically Backward Classes (EBCs). This adjustment included allocations of 20 per cent for SCs, 2 per cent for STs, 25 per cent for EBCs, and 18 per cent for OBCs.
These amendments aimed to provide increased reservations in government jobs and educational institutions to these marginalised communities. The Nitish Kumar government's decision to bring the total quota in Bihar to 65 per cent was challenged by one Gaurav Kumar in the Patna High Court.
What did the petitioner argue?
The petitioner argued that, according to the Supreme Court’s judgment, reservation cannot exceed 50 per cent. The High Court, in an 87-page order dated June 20, declared these amendments unconstitutional, stating they violated the fundamental Right to Equality.
The court emphasised that the state's decision to exceed the 50 per cent reservation limit, established by the Supreme Court in the Indira Sawhney case, was not justified. The amendments followed a caste survey by the Bihar government, initiated after the Centre expressed its inability to conduct a comprehensive caste census beyond SCs and STs.
The quota amendments come after caste survey
The amendments had followed a caste survey, which put the percentage of Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) at a staggering 63 per cent of the state's total population, while the SCs and STs were stated to have accounted for more than 21 per cent. The exercise was undertaken by the Bihar government after the Centre expressed its inability to carry out a fresh headcount of castes other than the SCs and STs, which was last held as part of the 1931 Census.
(With inputs from agencies)
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