"Reservation Can't Be On Basis Of Religion": Supreme Court In Bengal Case

Reservation cannot be on the basis of religion, the Supreme Court observed on Monday while hearing a batch of pleas challenging the Calcutta High Court verdict that struck down the OBC status of several castes in West Bengal granted since 2010.

The pleas, including the one filed by the West Bengal government, challenging the high court's May 22 verdict came up for hearing before a bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan.

"Reservation cannot be on the basis of religion," Justice Gavai observed.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state government, said, "This is not on the basis of religion. This is on the basis of backwardness." The high court had struck down the OBC status of several castes in West Bengal granted since 2010, holding as illegal the reservation for them in public sector jobs and state-run educational institutions.

In its verdict, the high court said, "Religion indeed appears to have been the sole criterion for declaring these communities as OBCs." The high court further said the "selection of 77 classes of Muslims as backwards is an affront to the Muslim community as a whole".

Deciding the petitions challenging the provisions of the state's reservation law of 2012 and reservations granted in 2010, the high court clarified that the services of citizens of the struck-down classes, who were already in service or had availed the benefit of reservation, or succeeded in any selection process of the state, would not be affected by the judgment.

The high court, in total, struck down 77 classes of reservation given between April, 2010 and September, 2010.

It also struck down 37 classes for reservation as OBC given under The West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012.

During the hearing on Monday, the top court asked the lawyers appearing in the case to give an overview of the matter.

While referring to the high court's verdict, Sibal said the provisions of the Act were struck down.

"So these are very serious issues involved. It affects rights of thousands of students who are aspiring to be admitted to universities, people who are wanting jobs," he said.

Sibal therefore urged the bench for some interim order to be passed and an ex-facie stay on the high court order.

The bench also heard submissions of other lawyers, including senior advocate P S Patwalia, who was representing some of the respondents in the matter.

The top court said it would hear the detailed submissions on January 7.

While hearing the matter on August 5, the apex court asked the West Bengal government to provide quantifiable data on social and economic backwardness of fresh castes it had included in the OBC list and their inadequate representation in public sector jobs.

While issuing notices to the private litigants on a plea of the state government against the high court verdict, the top court then asked the state to file an affidavit giving details of the consultations, if any, conducted by it and the state's backward classes panel before including 37 castes, mostly Muslim groups, in the OBC list.

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