The Supreme Court on Tuesday verbally said it would allow Maharashtra’s local body elections to go ahead, but made it clear that reservations cannot exceed the 50% ceiling in seats where polls are yet to be notified, The Indian Express reported.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant made the remarks while hearing petitions challenging the implementation of Other Backward Classes reservation in the state’s local bodies.

Chief Justice Surya Kant said that in the 57 local bodies where the reservation exceeds 50%, the elections will be subject to the outcome of the ongoing proceedings, The Indian Express reported. “Any further election which you notify must comply with the 50% ceiling,” Kant told the lawyer for the Maharashtra State Election Commission.

Advocate Balbir Singh, appearing for the commission, informed the court that elections to 246 Municipal Councils and 42 Nagar Panchayats are scheduled for December 2, with counting on December 3, the newspaper reported.

Elections to Zila Parishads, Municipal Corporations and Panchayat Samitis are yet to be notified.

The bench directed the commission to submit a list of the 57 local bodies where the reservation cap has been breached.

Local body elections in Maharashtra have been stalled since 2021 amid court proceedings about OBC reservation.

In December 2021, the Supreme Court stayed the quota, holding that it could be implemented only after the state satisfied the “triple-tests” requirement laid down in earlier judgments, Live Law reported.

This test requires state governments to establish a commission for empirical inquiry, determine proportional reservation based on findings and ensure that the total reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes does not exceed 50%.

The 50% ceiling was set by the Supreme Court in the 1992 Indra Sawhney vs Union Of India ruling.

To meet the “triple test” requirement, the state constituted the Jayant Kumar Banthia Commission in March 2022.

The commission recommended 27% OBC reservation but said it must remain within the overall 50% ceiling, Live Law reported.

As its report was challenged, the Supreme Court in August 2022 directed that the status quo be maintained.

On May 6, 2023, the court allowed elections to be held with OBC reservation restored to the percentage that existed before the Banthia Commission’s July 2022 report.

However, during last week’s hearing, the bench verbally observed that state authorities appeared to have misconstrued this order as permitting reservations to rise above 50%.

The court clarified that this was not the case and that the ceiling continues to apply.