New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday permitted the Uttar Pradesh government to issue notification for holding the urban local body polls after considering that a dedicated commission constituted to examine the issue of OBC reservation has submitted its final report.
A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, noted that the Uttar Pradesh government has issued a notification for UP Backward Classes Commission, on the basis of the court’s previous order.
The bench, also comprising Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala, said the tenure of the commission was six months, it was to complete its task by March 31, 2023, while noting that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted before it that the report has been submitted on March 9.
The bench noted that the notification for local body elections is in motion and will be issued in two days.
Disposing of the matter, the apex court clarified that the directions in its order are not to be used as precedent.
The apex court, in January this year, had stayed the Allahabad High Court’s direction to the Uttar Pradesh Election Commission to go ahead with the urban local body elections without giving reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
The Uttar Pradesh government had then contended before the court that it has already set up a dedicated commission to collect data for representation of the OBCs.
In December last year, the high court had passed the order on pleas challenging the preparation of the OBC reservation draft without following the triple test formula prescribed by the Supreme Court.
The top court, May last year, had referred to the constitution bench decision in ‘K Krishna Murthy (Dr) and Ors v Union of India & Anr’ (2010), to hold that “triple test conditions” have to be fulfilled before providing reservations for the OBCs.
Earlier in March this year, Justice (retired) Ram Avtar Singh, who led the commission, and four other members — retired IAS officers Chob Singh Verma, Mahendra Kumar, and former additional law advisers Santosh Kumar Vishwakarma and Brajesh Kumar Soni — met the Chief Minister at his official residence and handed over the report in presence of Urban Development Minister A K Sharma and officials of the Urban Development Department.
(IANS)
