The Supreme Court on Friday (September 13, 2024) said it will consider adjourning the hearing of West Bengal government’s plea against the Calcutta High Court’s decision to quash OBC status of several castes, mostly Muslim groups, for providing reservation in public sector jobs and government educational institutions.
As per the schedule, the Supreme Court is to hear the appeal on September 30. The litigants, including the Trinamool Congress-led state government, have appealed to advance the date of hearing. Senior advocate NK Kaul told the bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra that 77 communities have been ‘excluded from reservation’. Due to this decision, the admission process related to them is getting affected.
CJI Chandrachud told advocate Kaul, ‘I will pronounce the order after noon.’ The Supreme Court had earlier on August 5 asked the state government to provide quantitative data on the social and economic backwardness of the new castes included in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) list and their inadequate representation in public sector jobs.
Issuing notice to private litigants on the state government’s plea against the high court order, the bench had asked the authorities to file an affidavit giving details of consultations (if any) held by it and the state Backward Classes Commission before including castes, particularly Muslim groups, in the OBC list.
On May 22, the High Court had cancelled the OBC status given to several castes in West Bengal since 2010. Reservation for them in public sector jobs and government educational institutions was declared illegal.