New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea challenging the Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment) Act, 2023, which increased the reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in local bodies from 10 per cent to 27 per cent.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi questioned the petitioners for instituting a writ petition directly before the top court and told them to first approach the Gujarat High Court.
Sensing the disinclination of the apex court to entertain the plea, senior advocate K. Parameshwar, representing the petitioners, sought permission to withdraw the writ petition with liberty to approach the Gujarat HC.
The petition, filed through advocate Sudhanshu Prakash, contended that the amendment violates constitutional principles, lacks empirical backing, and contravenes previous apex court judgments governing reservations in local bodies.
The petitioners — Vora Jaimin and others — said that while the Gujarat government formed a Commission led by Justice K.S. Jhaveri (retired) in July 2022, its report, submitted in April 2023, has not been made public.
“Since the report of the Commission, which forms the basis of the Amendment Act, is not in the public domain, it follows that the Amending Act is not backed by any verifiable data. Absence of the report from the public domain means there is no yardstick by which to judge the validity of the reservation provided by the Amending Act,” the petition stated.
It alleged that the state government failed to comply with the “triple test” laid down by the Supreme Court in Vikas Kishanrao Gawali vs. State of Maharashtra, mandating that any OBC reservation in local bodies must be preceded by: (1) A dedicated Commission conducting a rigorous empirical inquiry; (2) Local body-wise specification of reservation based on that data; and (3) a ceiling ensuring the total reservation for SCs, STs, and OBCs does not exceed 50 per cent.
The petition claimed that the amendment appears to mechanically increase OBC reservation to 27 per cent without assessing the actual political backwardness or representation needs of the community.
“The blind transplantation of service law percentages (e.g., 27 per cent) into the electoral sphere is impermissible,” the plea said.
The petitioners, all aspiring candidates from the unreserved category in the upcoming local body polls, claimed that they are being unfairly excluded from contesting elections due to the excessive reservation. The petition sought a direction to strike down the Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment) Act, 2023, and urged the top court to lay down guidelines for assessing OBC political backwardness to prevent excessive reservation in local bodies.
(IANS)
