Supreme Court sets aside Rajasthan HC’s stay on bill raising reservation for Other Backward Classes
The top court accepted the state’s submission that a court cannot stop a legislative process, but told it to not cross the 50% cap on reservation yet.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside the Rajasthan High Court’s November 7 stay order on the state government’s bill on reservation for Other Backward Classes, ANI reported.
The top court accepted the Rajasthan government’s submission that a court cannot stop a legislative process while setting aside the High Court order. However, the Supreme Court also reiterated that the state cannot cross the 50% cap on reservation until the writ petition is decided by the High Court.
OBC Reservation Bill: Supreme Court accepted Rajasthan Govt's submission that a court cannot stop a legislative process, setting aside Rajasthan High Court's order.
— ANI (@ANI) November 15, 2017
On October 26, the Rajasthan Assembly had passed the bill to raise the reservation for Other Backward Classes from 21% to 26%. With this, the total quota in the state for government jobs and seats in educational institutes would have increased to 54%, higher than the 50% ceiling set by the Supreme Court.
The Rajasthan Backward Classes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions in the State and of Appointment and Posts in Services under the State) Bill, 2017, provides 5% reservation to Gujjars and four other communities.
The five castes – Gujjar/Gurjar, Banjara/Baldia/Labana, Gadia-Lohar/Gadalia, Raika/Rebari and Gadaria – were included in the Other Backward Classes list in 1994.
In December 2016, the Rajasthan High Court had struck down the state’s proposal to include these five under the Special Backward Class Reservation Act, 2015.