Bhopal: In a jolt to the state government, the Jabalpur bench of Madhya Pradesh high court on Wednesday, February 16 struck down the 27% quota for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the main examination of state's Public Service Commission (PSC), held in 2019.

A two-member bench of the high court, headed by Chief Justice Ravi Malimath and comprising Justice Maninder Singh Bhatti, in an interim order on Wednesday said, "Respondents (referring to the Madhya Pradesh PSC and the state General Administration Department) are directed to ensure that reservation for the OBC category shall not be more than 14% while declaring the results of the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission's (MPPSC) State Services Main Examination, 2019."

In the one-page interim order, the bench, citing its order from March 19, 2019, said, "In similar matters pertaining to the grant of reservation for the OBC category, this court, by order dated March 19, 2019 passed in Writ Petition (WP) No. 5901 of 2019, passed an interim order to the effect that the respondents shall not provide reservation of more than 14% for the OBC category, for the relevant issue therein. We are of the view that the petitioner, too, would be entitled to similar relief."

Madhya Pradesh high court's 2019 order

The Kamal Nath-led Congress government, on March 8, 2019, had passed an ordinance increasing reservation for the OBC category to 27% from the existing 14% in the state. About 10 days later, four MBBS students appearing for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) examination seeking admission in medical colleges had challenged the MP's government's ordinance, citing Article 14 of the constitution and pleading equality before law.

Aditya Sanghi, who was representing the petitioners, had argued that as a result of the ordinance increasing OBC reservation to 27%, over and above the 16% reservation for Schedule Castes (SC) and 20% for Scheduled Tribes (ST), the statutorily prescribed reservation had gone up to 63%, which he called 'constitutionally impermissible'.

The court had, subsequently, sought the state's response to the petition challenging the Madhya Pradesh government's ordinance, 'Madhya Pradesh Lok Seva (Anusuchit Jatiyon, Anusuchit Jan Jatiyon Aur Anya Pichhade Vargon Ke Liye Arakshan) Sanshodhan Adhiniyam, 2019', which had increased reservation for the OBC category from the existing 14% to 27%.

The court had then observed, "At this stage, the learned additional advocate general, appearing for the respondent/state, accepts the notice and prays for a week's time to seek instruction and submit his response. In the meanwhile, it is directed that the respondent shall not provide reservation of more than 14% to the OBC category in admission made to colleges on strength of the ordinance which is subject matter of this petition."

Sanghi is also representing Tiwari's present petition. Speaking to The Wire, he said, "In the Indra Sawhney case, the Supreme Court had capped caste-based reservation at a maximum of 50%. In addition to that, the court has recently struck down reservations given to the Maratha community. This means the 27% OBC quota is a breach of the court's order."

Also read: Maratha Reservations: Why SC’s Verdict May Still Open the Door to Further Litigation

With this interim order, the MPPSC, which had last year declared the results with 27% OBC reservation, as per a notification issued by the General Administration Department (GAD) on August 14, 2021, will now issue a fresh list of candidates for interviews with 14% OBC reservation, the council said.

He said, "The two-judge bench, in its interim order, restrained the MPPSC from giving 27% reservation and issued notices to the MPPSC and GAD, the respondents in the case."

Prior to this, the Madhya Pradesh high court has struck down a 27% quota to OBC in three separate petitions; from the school education, health and medical education departments respectively.

Sanghi alleged that the high court has put a stay on the reservation ordinance but the state government misinterpreted the order and enacted the law on September 2, 2021, which will be effective retroactively from March 8, 2019.

"The ordinance which was passed by the Congress in March, 2019 was enacted by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government almost 30 months later, by issuing an order from the GAD, misinterpreting the high court's order," said Sanghi.

Under attack from the opposition Congress after it created ruckus inside the state assembly, the BJP government had enacted the law on September 2, 2021. Speaking to news agency ANI, Madhya Pradesh Urban Development and Housing minister Bhupendra Singh had said then, "The Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Madhya Pradesh government has cleared 27% reservation for OBC for all departments, excluding the three departments which were put on stay. It's a historic decision."

In its order, the GAD had said, "There are various writ petitions pending before the honourable high court of Madhya Pradesh, principal seat at Jabalpur, where the provisions of the Madhya Pradesh Lok Seva Sanshodhan Adhiniyam, 2019 are under challenge, whereby the reservation for the OBC class has been increased from 14% to 27%."

The order further said, "Earlier, this office, through the additional Advocate General, had given the opinion on August 8, 2020 to the National Health Mission (NHM) whereby it was advised, under the special circumstances prevalent at that point of time due to spread of COVID-19, that the appointments on the posts related to some contractual appointment to the NHM department can be made confining the OBC reservation to the tune of 14%. However, it was made clear that the merit positions for the entire 27% should be maintained and the remaining 13% will depend upon the final outcome of the case."

The issue is still hung as the hearing of around 48 petitions (clubbed together), for or against the law, is still pending before the high court, with the BJP and the Congress still competing for credit.

(With inputs from Kashif Kakvi)

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