In a major setback to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the BJP, the Supreme Court on Monday (July 29) refused to stay the Patna High Court's decision that scrapped state government's decision to increase the quota for backward classes from 50 per cent to 65 per cent. Supreme Court listed the matter in September for hearing Bihar Government's plea challenging Patna High Court order setting aside increase in reservation for Backward Classes, SC & ST from 50 per cent to 65 in public employment and admission to educational institutions.
The High Court invalidated Bihar government'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.
Bihar government's decision challenged in Patna High Court
The Nitish Kumar government's decision to hike the reservation in Bihar to 65 per cent was challenged by one Gaurav Kumar in the Patna High Court.
The petitioner in the Patna HC had 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 ruled The Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (Amendment) Act, 2023, and The Bihar (In Admission in Educational Institutions) Reservation (Amendment) Act, 2023 as unconstitutional, violating Articles 14, 15, and 16.
The government's 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.
What had the government said on Patna HC verdict earlier?
Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary said on June 20 that the government will seek “justice” for the people of the state where the reservation for backwards communities “must increase”. Choudhary had vowed to approach the Supreme Court on the matter.
“In Bihar, the reservation of backward communities, dalits and tribals must increase...therefore Bihar govt will go to Supreme Court and will give justice to the people of Bihar...his (Tejashwi Yadav) father did not give reservation to a single person, Lalu Prasad Yadav means anti-reservation, he was supporter of crime and he was epitome of hooliganism,” he had said.
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