Patna: The Patna High Court will hear a plea against the Nitish Kumar led state government's decision to increase the reservation limit of SC, ST, OBC, EBC categories from 50 percent to 65 percent. The division bench of Chief Justice KV Chandran will hear the PILs filed by Patna High Court lawyer Gaurav Kumar and others.
On November 9 last year, the then Mahagathbandhan government led by Nitish Kumar had brought a law and increased the limit of reservation by passing the Bihar Reservation (Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes) (Amendment) Act, 2023, and Bihar (Admission in Educational Institutions) Reservation (Amendment) Act, 2023.
Patna High Court, while hearing the petitions challenging it, had refused to put a stay on the state government's decision. Besides, the court had also directed the state government to file a reply in this regard.
There is an overall 75 percent reservation in Bihar. While 65 percent reservation is being given to SC, ST, OBC and EBC, 10 percent reservation is being given to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS).
In their petition against increasing the reservation limit, petitioners Gaurav Kumar and Naman Shrestha said that the enhancement of the reservation limit above 50% was a “violation of the Constitution and the fundamental rights of the common people”.
The petitioners said that as per the provision of the Constitution, the parameters of reservation are supposed to be given on the basis of social and financial status of the people belonging to the backward class and not on the basis of population of the caste.
The Bihar caste census has recommended 27 percent reservation for Extremely Backward Class (OBC), 36 percent for Extremely Backward Class (EBC), 19 percent for Scheduled Caste (SC), 1.68 percent for Scheduled Tribe (ST) and 1.68 percent for Sarvan Yami.
According to Bihar caste census report, Hindus constitute the largest population at 81.9 percent followed by Muslims with 17.7 percent population. The Christian population in Bihar is 0.05 percent, Buddhist 0.08 percent and Jain population is 0.009 percent.
