Supreme Court rejects interim report recommending OBC Reservation in Maharashtra local body polls

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to accept the interim report submitted by the Maharashtra Backward Class Commission recommending reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in local body elections [Rahul Ramesh Wagh v. State of Maharashtra]..A Bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar noted that the report is not compliant with its earlier order where it was held that the triple test as stipulated in Vikas Kishanrao Gawali v. State of Maharashtra must be fulfilled before reserving seats in local bodies for OBCs.Moreover, it noted that the interim report itself states that “the same is being prepared in absence of empirical study and research by the commission.”.The Court, therefore, directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to not act on the interim report and conduct elections without implementing the 27 per cent OBC quota. .However, the Bench also clarified that “we do not intend to dilate on the correctness of each of the observations made by the commission in the interim report.”.As per mandatory triple-test laid down by the Supreme Court, the following conditions are required to be complied with by the State before reserving seats in local bodies for OBCs(i) A commission must be established to conduct empirical inquiry into the “nature and implications of the backwardness” in the local bodies of a particular community within that state; (ii) Specify the proportion of reservation required local body wise in light of the recommendations by the said committee, so as not to fall foul of overbreadth; and (iii) the reservations (for SC/ST/OBCs) must not exceed 50 per cent of the total seats in any case..In December 2021, the top court had struck down the State government’s earlier efforts to introduce 27 per cent OBC reservation in zilla parishads and panchayat samitis, saying it was violative of the 50 per cent cap laid down in its Indira Sawhney v. Union of India judgment.The State was given liberty to conduct the study and based on data of the report allowed for reservations for OBCs in the local body elections. In light of this, last month, the Commission prepared an interim report with a recommendation to include reservations of 27 per cent for the OBCs. Thereafter, the Maharashtra government sought to recall the Supreme Court order to re-notify 27 per cent OBC seats as general seats. .As the interim report submitted by the SEC was not prepared in compliance with the triple-test, the Supreme Court directed the SEC to notify the election process in those local bodies where elections are overdue without any delay, in compliance with the restraint against effecting OBC reservations.The Court also stressed that process should be before the statutory period of six months from the date of expiry of the normal term of the local body..Senior Advocate Shekar Naphade appeared for the State government and Senior Advocate Vikas Singh appeared for the appellant.Copy of the order will be updated soon.