West Bengal seeks time to respond to replies filed in OBC status case in Supreme Court

New Delhi: The West Bengal government on Tuesday sought time to reply to the responses filed by litigants in a case pertaining to the Calcutta High Court verdict striking down the OBC status of several castes, mostly Muslim groups, in the state for granting reservation in public sector jobs and admissions in state-run educational institutes.

The top court was scheduled to hear on Tuesday the appeal of the state government along with other petitions on the issue.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state government, told the bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra that bulky documents have been filed by the other side in the matter and he needed time to respond to them.

"I need time to respond to them," Sibal said.

"We will then list the matter in the Monday week (the week commencing from next Monday that is September 2)," the CJI said.

On August 20, the state government had sought an urgent hearing on its plea against the high court verdict. The bench then ordered listing of the case on August 27.

"We need a stay of the high court’s verdict... the issue of scholarships is pending and the NEET admissions will be affected," Sibal had then said, adding that the plea be heard during the day.

The top court had on August 5 asked the state government to provide quantifiable data on social and economic backwardness of fresh castes it has included in the OBC list and on their inadequate representation in public sector jobs.

While issuing notices to the private litigants on the state government's plea against the high court verdict, it had asked West Bengal to file an affidavit giving details of the consultations, if any, made by it and the state's backward classes panel before including 37 castes, mostly Muslim groups, in the OBC list.

The high court had on May 22 struck down the OBC status of several castes in West Bengal granted since 2010, holding as illegal the reservation for them in public sector jobs and state-run educational institutes.

While striking down the OBC status of these castes, the high court had said, "Religion indeed appears to have been the sole criterion" for declaring these communities as OBCs.

The high court had said it is of the view that the selection of 77 classes of Muslims as backwards is an "affront to the Muslim community as a whole."

Maintaining that this court's mind is not free from doubt that "the said community (Muslims) has been treated as a commodity for political ends," the bench had said, "This is clear from the chain of events that led to the classification of the 77 classes as OBCs and their inclusion to be treated as a vote bank."

Passing the judgment on petitions challenging the provisions of the state's reservation Act of 2012 and reservations granted in 2010, the high court had 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 high court also struck down 37 classes chosen for grant of reservation as OBC under The West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012.

While the court had scrapped the 77 classes over "illegality" of reports recommending such classification, other 37 classes were removed from the OBC list for non-consultation by the West Bengal Backward Classes Commission.

The bench had also struck down an executive order of May 11, 2012 creating several sub-classes.

The high court ruled that the directions will take effect prospectively.