MP Government's 27% OBC Reservation Plea Stalled In Supreme Court As Registry Flags 10 Defects In Petition Challenging High Court Order

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Supreme Court (SC) Registry has flagged 10 procedural and technical defects in the Madhya Pradesh government's Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging the High Court's order striking down 27% reservation for Other Backwards Classes (OBCs).

The government approached the apex court against the Madhya Pradesh High Court's Oct 9 ruling, which struck down the 2019 law increasing OBC reservation from 14% to 27%.

However, the petition remains under Diary Number 65767/2026, with the defects preventing assignment of a regular SLP number and listing for an active hearing.

The objections concern incomplete documentation, translation discrepancies, affidavit technicalities, pagination errors and missing party details.

According to the reported objections, certified copies of certain challenged orders and lower court records are missing. Official English translations of Hindi documents, notifications and court submissions are also reportedly incomplete or inaccurate.

Other deficiencies include errors in affidavit formatting, signatures and verification, improper indexing, incorrect page numbering, blurred documents and incomplete identification or contact details of petitioners and respondents.

High Court-designated senior advocate Rameshwar Thakur, representing OBC Mahasabha, said the Registry had identified several specific defects in the petition.

He said pages 1 to 13 and 392 to 393 were blurred, while page 18 contained a date mismatch. Identified and certified documents were missing, and the petition reportedly referred to prayers that had not been filed.

Thakur said these deficiencies were preventing the SLP from being listed.

The objections have consequently created a procedural hurdle for the state government's challenge to the High Court ruling on 27% OBC reservation.

Until the defects are rectified, the petition remains at the scrutiny stage rather than proceeding to an active hearing.