Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Two petitions were filed in Supreme Court by Madhya Pradesh Government and OBC, SC, ST Ekta Manch respectively on Friday. The petitioners pleaded that Supreme Court should hear the cases pertaining to OBC reservation in Madhya Pradesh.
At present, the cases are lying for disposal at principal bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court in Jabalpur. The Supreme Court issued order to issue notices to the concerned parties in both the petitions and fixed May 12, 2023 as the next date of hearing.
The Congress government led by Kamal Nath had declared 27% reservation for OBC on March 8, 2019.
Counsel for Ekta Manch Rameshwar Singh Thakur said, “On May 12, the Supreme Court will decide where will the OBC reservation cases pending in Madhya Pradesh High Court be heard. In Supreme Court or in High Court.”
According to advocate Thakur, in the case of Indira Sahni vs Union of India, a 9-judge constitutional bench of Supreme Court had held that OBCs were entitled to 27% reservation because they constitute 52.8% of the population of the country.
However, the court had ordered that the limit of reservation should be not exceed 50%.
Apart from this, the Supreme Court had said that the reservation limit can be more than 50% under special circumstances, which it will have the right to decide after judicial review.
