MP govt to seek lifting of HC’s OBC quota hike bar

BHOPAL:  The Madhya Pradesh government on Thursday said it will plead for a hike in reservation for the OBCs in the next hearing on the matter in the High Court. It comes as the Opposition, led by the Conrgess, is trying hard to corner the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government over its inability to get a High Court stay on hike in OBC reservation lifted.

The CM chaired a meeting of the BJP’s OBC cell, comprising OBC ministers and MLAs in Bhopal on Thursday evening. During the marathon meeting that lasted for more than three hours, it was decided to press for a final hearing of the writ petition in the MP High Court in March 2019, challenging the decision to provide 27% reservation to OBC in government jobs and institutes of higher education.

“On the next hearing, the state’s advocate general and top advocates, including country’s solicitor general Tushar Mehta and Ravishankar Prasad will plead the HC for final hearing in the matter,” senior cabinet minister Bhupendra Singh said after the meeting. With the OBCs accounting for 56% of MP’s population, the Congress is trying to corner the BJP government over the issue, keeping an eye on the coming by-elections to three Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat.

On March 8, 2019 then Kamal Nath government, with an eye on the Lok Sabha polls, decided to hike the 14% existing OBC quota in government jobs and admissions to institutions of higher education in the state to 27% through an ordinance. Two days later, medical PG course aspirants moved the HC seeking stay against the ordinance. Nine days later, the HC had through an interim order stayed the operation of the ordinance.