SC Declines Stay on Patna HC's Decision to Quash Law for 65 Per Cent Reservation in Jobs, Education

The apex court on Monday refused to stay a Patna High Court order setting aside the amended reservation laws in the state that enabled the Nitish Kumar dispensation to raise quotas for Dalits, tribals and backward classes from 50 per cent to 65 per cent.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to stay Patna High Court, which set aside the increase in reservation for Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/STs) from 50 per cent to 65 per cent in admission to educational institutions and public jobs.

A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and comprising justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra has scheduled the hearing on the appeal filed by the Bihar government against the high court order in September.

During the hearing, senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the state government, urged the apex court to stay the high court order. However, the bench declined to accept this contention for now and agreed to examine the appeal filed by the Bihar government.

Divan insisted on a grant for interim relief and pressed that the issue might need consideration by a larger bench as well, and requested clarification that the interim relief is being denied at this stage. The bench agreed to this submission.

"We are not inclined to stay at this stage...we will list the matter for final hearing in September," said the bench. The apex court also declined to issue notice on the application for a stay of the judgment.

The high court, in its June 20 verdict, declared that the amendments, passed unanimously by the state's bicameral legislature in November last year, were "ultra vires" of the Constitution, "bad in law" and "violative of the equality clause".

The state government said the high court gravely erred in holding that the backward classes are adequately represented solely because backward communities together constitute 68.52 per cent of the total government and observed that there “is no requirement for the enhancement of reservations.”

“The State of Bihar is the only State which carried out this exercise and published its Caste Survey Report on socioeconomic and educational conditions of the entire population. The State has complied with the binding decisions of this Hon’ble Court and then amended the Reservation Acts”, said the state’s petition.