Supreme Court Halts MP High Court From Hearing OBC Quota Petitions, Sets Feb 14 For Transfer Case Hearing

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Supreme Court, on Friday, prevented the Madhya Pradesh High Court from hearing nine petitions related to the state’s OBC reservation, which had been transferred to the SC. Earlier, the High Court had dismissed the petitions challenging 27% OBC quota, clearing its implementation in the state.

So far, the state government has filed 75 transfer petitions in the Supreme Court. On January 20, 2025, the High Court had stayed the hearing of 13 of these cases. On Friday, the Supreme Court's division bench, comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjwal Bhuyan, heard nine of these cases, issued notices, and scheduled a hearing for all the transfer petitions on February 14.

Senior advocate Rameshwar Singh Thakur said, “More than a dozen caveats have been filed in the Supreme Court on behalf of Madhya Pradesh’s backward class organisations and OBC candidates. However, their hearing has not taken place yet. The transfer cases, in which caveats were filed, could not be heard because the government failed to provide copies of the petitions to the caveators. When the Madhya Pradesh High Court began hearing and rejecting petitions challenging OBC reservations, the government is attempting to stay the hearing by referring to transfer petitions and getting them heard in the Supreme Court."