West Bengal withdraws appeal in Supreme Court against removal of 77 communities from OBC list

The West Bengal government on Tuesday withdrew from Supreme Court its appeal challenging Calcutta High Court's verdict striking down the inclusion of 77 communities, predominantly 75 Muslim communities, in the State’s Other Backward Classes (OBC) list.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana permitted the withdrawal.

This came after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the State, informed the Court that the West Bengal Cabinet has decided to withdraw the case. Meanwhile, the West Bengal State Backward Classes Commission also withdrew its independent appeal through advocate Kunal Chatterjee.

While allowing the withdrawal of these petitions, the Court clarified that any other aggrieved party or affected individual can still challenge the High Court decision.

The controversy dates back to May 2024, when a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court invalidated the inclusion of these 77 communities into the OBC list, ruling the classification "illegal and unconstitutional".

The High Court had observed that the identification process was marred by legal infirmities and that the State executive had bypassed the mandatory consultation process with the Backward Classes Commission.

It had further remarked that religion appeared to be the sole criterion for the inclusion, characterizing the move as an attempt to treat a community as a "vote bank" for electoral gains.

While the ruling cancelled around 12 lakh OBC certificates issued after 2010, it protected those citizens who had already secured government employment or availed of reservation benefits under the quota.

However, the ruling was challenged by the State government which was then led by Mamata Banerjee. The same challenge has now been withdrawn by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

In a related development, the West Bengal Assembly last month passed two amendment bills to officially trim the OBC list down to its pre-2010 level of 66 communities, reducing the State's overall OBC quota from 17% back to 7%.

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