Kolkata: In a major blow to TMC government in West Bengal, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday cancelled approximately 5 lakh Other Backward Classes certificates as it struck down several classes of OBC under an Act of 2012 for reservation of vacancies in services and posts in the state, finding them illegal.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asserted that she will not accept the Calcutta High Court order, as the bill concerned was passed within the framework of the Constitution.
Addressing a poll rally at Khardah under the Dumdum Lok Sabha constituency, Banerjee said the OBC reservation will continue in the state. The OBC reservation quota introduced by the West Bengal government will continue. We had drafted the Bill after conducting a house-to-house survey, and it was passed by the cabinet and the assembly, she said.
"The BJP has conspired to stall it by using central agencies. How can the saffron party show such audacity?" the TMC boss said.
The High Court earlier in the day struck down the OBC status of several classes in the state, finding such reservations under an Act of 2012 to vacancies in services and posts in the state illegal. The number of enlisted persons under OBC in West Bengal after 2010 is likely to be above five lakhs, one of the lawyers representing the petitioners said.
Passing judgement on petitions challenging the provisions of the Act, the court clarified that the services of citizens of the struck down classes, who are already in service or have availed the benefit of reservation or have succeeded in any selection process of the state will not be affected by the order.
The court struck down several classes for reservation as Other Backward Classes (OBC) given under The West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012.
The bench directed that the state's executive orders classifying several other classes as OBCs from March 5, 2010, to May 11, 2012, were also quashed, in view of the illegality of the reports recommending such classification. The court said that the directions will be given prospective effect.
In the judgement, the division bench comprising justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Rajasekhar Mantha clarified that the executive orders of the state government classifying 66 classes of OBC before 2010 were not interfered with, since these were not challenged in the petitions. A clause in the 2012 Act allowing inclusion of classes for OBC reservation by the state government through notification in the official gazette was also struck down.
Setting aside a provision in the Act of 2012 for distribution of percentage of reservation to the sub-classified classes, the court said, "sub-classified classes listed in two categories, namely OBC-A and OBC-B, are struck down from schedule 1 of the Act of 2012." The bench said that the opinion and advice of the Backward Classes Commission is ordinarily binding on the state legislature under provisions of the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993.
The court directed the Backward Classes Welfare Department of the state, in consultation with the Commission, to place a report before the legislature with recommendations for inclusion of new classes or for exclusion of remaining classes in the state list of OBCs. Concurring with the judgment penned by Justice Mantha, Justice Chakraborty observed, "The concept of equality of opportunity in public employment concerns an individual, whether that individual belongs to the general category or backward class."
He said, "The society at large has a stake in proper application of the yardsticks pertaining to reservation." Strict adherence to the rule of law is to be ensured and the same cannot be allowed to be flouted in the hands of the executives, he said. (With agency inputs)
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