Rajya Sabha: OBC reservation call for local bodies: SC has ruled that decisions for the quota by states

SC has ruled that decisions for the quota by states were contrary to a five-judge constitution bench judgment in 2010

In the Rajya Sabha, DMK MP P. Wilson said constitutional reservations to the OBCs in local body elections were brought in 1992.: File photo

TT Special Correspondent   |   New Delhi   |    30.03.22  :  The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday witnessed a demand for bringing an amendment to the Constitution to overcome a Supreme Court judgment which treated differently the reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in political positions and jobs.

In recent directions, the Supreme Court prevented Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh from implementing reservation for OBCs in local body elections. The apex court has ruled that decisions for OBC reservation by states were contrary to a five-judge constitution bench judgment in 2010 known as K. Krishna Murthy judgment.

In the 2010 judgment, the court directed a triple test before reserving seats for OBCs — to set up a commission to conduct contemporaneous rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness in local bodies within the state, to specify the proportion of reservation required to be provisioned local body wise, and in any case such reservation shall not exceed aggregate of 50 per cent of the total seats reserved in favour of SCs, STs and OBCs.

In the Rajya Sabha, DMK MP P. Wilson said constitutional reservations to the OBCs in local body elections were brought in 1992. Even after 28 years, the implementation is erratic because of court direction and non-release of data on OBCs collected by the Centre under Socio Economic Caste Census.