New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the Telangana government’s plea challenging the High Court verdict in the OBC Quota hike case. The Telangana High Court in its judgment had stayed two government orders to increase the other backward class (OBC) quota in municipalities and panchayats to 42%.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta heard the matter. “After hearing the arguments of senior advocate AM Singhvi, appearing for the state government, the bench said, “”dismiss””.” Singhvi urged the bench to make it clear that its order should have no impact on the matter listed before the high court. The bench said the dismissal of the special leave petition before it will not have any impact on the decision on the writ petition pending by the high court on its merits.
“The Supreme Court said, “”You can continue your elections…” (State appeal) rejected… This order will not affect the High Court in deciding the merits of the case.
On October 9, the Telangana High Court had said that such an increase in the OBC quota appears to violate the 50 per cent limit set by the Supreme Court for such reservation in various cases.
The High Court had put an interim stay on the government orders. The state government had moved the Supreme Court against the High Court’s decision. The state government had increased the quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in municipalities and panchayats to 42% under these government orders.
State government’s argument
During the hearing, Singhvi argued that the strict limit of 50 per cent set by the Supreme Court in the matter of reservation is not a rule, as stated in the interim order of the High Court. It was argued that it is a misconception that the judgment given by the Supreme Court in the Indira Sahni case (1992) had fixed a strict limit of 50 per cent on reservation for backward classes in all cases. Singhvi argued that the decision allows this limit to be broken in exceptional circumstances. However, Singhvi could not persuade the apex court to get an order in his favour.
The bench said the judgment in the Gawli case does not allow more than 50% reservation. Singhvi said that this is a policy decision and the resolution passed unanimously by all parties supports it. “The bench said, “”Why did you have to bring a government order to implement the demand you made under your procedure…” Gawli (the verdict) says nothing more than 50%…”, and said that even after considering the empirical data, the government does not allow reservations beyond 50%.
It was argued before the bench that analysis of empirical evidence shows that the backward classes are still relatively backward. Singhvi argued that if the court considers that there is a full limit of 50 per cent on reservation, then what should be done in a state where the OBC population is more than 70 per cent?
Singhvi urged the bench to consider the larger issue of whether the 50 per cent limit can be crossed. Otherwise, the honorable judge can make a strict rule of 50 percent for the entire country, he said.
