Maharashtra: Supreme Court Quashes 27% Reservation in Local Body Elections
In a major setback to the Maharashtra government, the Supreme Court has stated the decision of providing 27% reservation to OBC candidates in local body elections. On 23 September 2021, the state cabinet approved the proposal to change the draft ordinance to provide reservations to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the local body elections of Maharashtra.
After this, the state government sent the draft of the ordinance to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for approval. Koshyari had objected to some part of the ordinance. After this, a proposal to change it was presented in the cabinet meeting.
Guidelines issued by Court
The court has also issued directions to the Maharashtra State Election Commission in this regard. The court has said that the decision of the state government to bring an ordinance for OBC reservation cannot be accepted without following the triple test which is mandatory.
A bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Justice CT Ravikumar, while staying the government's ordinance, observed that the 27% OBC quota cannot be implemented without setting up the commission and collecting data about the inadequacy of representation as per the local government. The court said that the remaining election schedule for other reserved seats including the general category can go ahead.
Court had banned some local bodies
In March this year, the Supreme Court had stayed OBC reservation in some local bodies in the state on the ground that concrete data was not available to justify the percentage of reservation. The top court had also said that the total reservation should not exceed 50 per cent. So far, OBCs have been getting 27 per cent reservation in elections to municipal bodies and district councils.
Government had approved the lines of AP and Telangana
Despite this, the Maharashtra government led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had decided to implement OBC reservation through an ordinance on the lines of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. However, the State Law and Justice Department had termed the decision to fix the electoral quota for OBCs through an ordinance as legally unreasonable and advised the state government to first seek permission from the Supreme Court as the matter was subjudice.