BHOPAL: In a setback for Kamal Nath government, Jabalpur High Court stayed 27% reservation in jobs for the OBC (Other Backward Castes) candidates, on Tuesday.
The double bench comprising Chief Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal and Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla directed the MP Public Service Commission (PSC) and the state government to implement 14% and not 27% reservation policy in the ongoing recruitment process.
State government’s slack approach could be gauged by the fact that no senior advocate was present in the court during the hearing . “If advocate general or some senior advocate had argued in the court, decision could have been different,” commented a senior lawyer, Rameshwar Singh.
The High Court bench granted an interim stay while hearing petitions related to reservation for the OBCs. These orders came while hearing for the petitions where reservation limit exceeded the 50% mark and reached 63%.
The petitioner had challenged amendment in Reservation Bill 2019 and the recruitment process followed thereby. Main plea stated was that state government cannot give reservation more than 50% in view of previous Supreme Court decisions.
Amending the reservation provisions, Kamal Nath government had raised the reservation for OBCs from 14% to 27% in October 2019.
Advocate Himanshu Dubey represented state government while Prashant Singh for the MPPSC in the High Court. Sidharth Radheylal Gupta and Jahanvi Pandit argued for the petitioners cause.
Petitioner’s advocates argued that the reservation for OBCs was increased without recommendation from the Commission for OBCs. They also said that the decision by state government was taken without any field study.
Govt not serious on OBC reservation
The way state government has handled OBC reservation issue in High Court demonstrates its non-commitment and non-serious attitude towards the issue, said high court advocate, Rameshwar Singh.
‘It was a matter of prestige for the Kamal Nath government but surprisingly neither advocate general nor deputy advocate general represented the case, rather a less experienced advocate from the panel rested the case,” said Singh.
President of the OBC, SC, ST Ekta Parishad, Lokendra Gurjar, who also filed an intervention application said that MPPSC had advertised 630 vacancies recently in which 170 seats were reserved for the OBCs but now the reserved seats will be reduced to 82 seats only.
OBCs will not sit quite and will avenge the government in the upcoming local body elections, he added.
