The Patna High Court on Thursday struck down the 65 per cent reservation for Backward, Most Backward, Scheduled Castes and Tribes in Bihar.
The Court held that the Bihar Reservation of Seats in Posts and Services (Amendment) Act, 2023 and the Bihar (Admission in Educational Institutions (Amendment) Act, 2023) were violative of the Equality Clause under Acts 14 and were serious. 15 and 16.
The move comes after the Bihar Assembly approved an increase in reservation for OBCs, SCs and STs from 50 per cent to 65 per cent in 2023. With these laws, Bihar has achieved the highest reservation percentage among large states, reaching a total of 75 percent.
In March, a division bench comprising Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Harish Kumar deferred judgment on the writ petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the quota hike.
On October 2 last year, the Nitish Kumar-led state government released the Jatiwari Census report, which was conducted after it revealed that it was not possible to carry out headcount of social groups other than SCs and STs as part of the census.
OBCs and EBCs constituted 63 per cent of the state’s total population, while SCs and STs accounted for more than 21 per cent of the total, the survey said.
It is noteworthy that in 1992 the SC held that reservation of more than 50 per cent would affect Article 14 which talks about the right to equality.
Many states tried to give quotas to specific communities and provincial groups like Jats and Marathas and Muslims.
In 2021 a five-judge constitution bench of the SC refused to reconsider its 1992 judgment in the Indira Sawhney case of 50 per cent reservation.
“To change the 50 per cent limit is to create a society based on caste rule, not founded on equality. If reservation goes beyond the reasonable 50 per cent limit, it is a slippery slope, political pressure makes it difficult. It should be reduced,” Justice Ashok Bhushan had said then.
Last year, the Punjab and Haryana High Court struck down a Haryana government law, the Haryana State Employment for Local Candidates Act, 2020, which provided 75 per cent reservation in Haryana occupations to state residents.
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