Supreme Court Issues Notice On 65% Bihar Quota, No Stay On High Court Order

The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the Centre and the Bihar government on a petition challenging the High Court's order striking down a hike in reservation in Bihar to 65%, but has not imposed a stay for now. The Rashtriya Janata Dal, which is the principal opposition party in Bihar, had moved the top court against the Bihar High Court's verdict on the increased reservation, legislation for which was passed after a caste survey last year. 

Reacting to the developments in the Supreme Court, the RJD said it will continue to fight for reservation and the "rights of the deprived".

"Supreme Court issues notice on RJD's petition against Patna HC order quashing Bihar Reservation Amendment Act. RJD will keep fighting for the reservation and rights of the deprived and the neglected on the streets, in the House and in the courts," the party wrote in Hindi in a post on X while also hitting out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the BJP. 

The quota was increased from 50% to 65% for Backward Classes, Extremely Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes (SCs), and Scheduled Tribes (STs) through amendments to the reservation laws. The bills proposing the amendments were passed unanimously in the Bihar Assembly and legislative council and the hike in reservation was meant to apply to educational institutions as well as government jobs in the state. 

After petitioners approached it challenging the constitutional validity of the amendments, the High Court had ruled on June 20 that they were "ultra vires" of the Constitution, "bad in law" and "violative of the equality clause".

The bench said it saw "no extenuating circumstance enabling the state to breach" the 50% cap on reservations laid down by the Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney case of 1992.

The Bihar government had also approached the Supreme Court against the High Court order and a bench had, in July, refused to impose a stay. 

On Friday, a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra issued notices to the Bihar government and the Centre and tagged the RJD's petition with the pending appeal of the state government. 

The Bihar caste survey had revealed that 36 per cent of Bihar's population is from extremely backward classes, 27.1 per cent belong to backward classes, 19.7 per cent to the Scheduled Castes and 1.7 per cent to Scheduled Tribes. The general category, including so-called upper castes, accounts for 15.5 per cent.

The Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) Amendment Act, 2023 and the Bihar (Admission in Educational Institutions) Reservation (Amendment) Act, 2023 were then brought in to increase the reservation in the state to 65%.

The caste census has also become a national political issue with the Congress promising that it will get it done if voted to power and insisting that the 50% cap on reservation would be "uprooted". The charge has been led by Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and the issue has found broad support within the INDIA alliance.