Maharashtra to explore options as SC rejects backward class panel report on OBC quota

Sources in the government said that the issue of SC rejecting the interim report of the Maharashtra State Commission for Backward Classes (MSCBC) was discussed in the state cabinet meeting held on Thursday. “The cabinet has decided that the elections should not be held without the OBC quota. Now, we are holding talks with the lawyers to figure out the way forward,” said Chhagan Bhujbal, NCP minister.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said it will not allow any elections in state until OBC reservation is restored in all local bodies polls. Taking on the state’s ruling government, leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis said, “MVA government cut a very sorry figure. It failed to present its case. Its non-seriousness was evident from the shoddy data report it placed before court. It neither mentioned the date nor the methodology on how OBC backwardness data was compiled. As a result, Supreme Court reprimanded MVA government.”

In January, the SC had asked the government to submit data on OBCs to the MSCBC to examine its correctness and make recommendations on their representation in elections for the local bodies. Subsequently, the government handed over the data to the MSCBC and requested it to give an interim report at the earliest. The MSCBC, in its interim report given earlier this month, had recommended providing up to 27 per cent reservation to the OBCs.

Sources in the government said that the way forward on the issue included exploring all legal options, including making a law. “The cabinet has asked the secretaries of the Rural Development Department, Urban Development Department and Law and Judiciary to study the SC order. They have also been asked to see what the Madhya Pradesh government has done when their OBC quota was stayed by apex court recently,” said a source adding the secretaries are expected to brief the government on the issue on Friday.

However, sources from the state election commission said that they are awaiting the order of the SC. “We will study it and decide a further course of action. We will now only go by the SC order,” said an official adding that the cabinet decision of not holding polls may not have any bearing.

Another official further said that the SEC was preparing the plan to hold the elections to the municipal corporations, including for Mumbai, by end of May. “We will soon complete the process of delimitation of the ward boundaries. Then, we will go for the reservation lottery and then will publish the draft voter list, which needs to be completed before the nomination of the candidates. We will then accordingly decide further course of action,” added the official.

Sources said that the MSCBC said that the commission should go ahead to conduct the empirical study for the OBCs. “The SC’s order said that it is not right to give interim report without conducting the empirical study. And it is final in this regard. Now, the commission will focus on conducting the empirical data for the OBC quota,” said Balaji Killarikar, member of the MSCBC.

In its order on March 4 last year, the Supreme Court, while reading down the OBC reservation in local bodies, asked the state government to comply with triple conditions — setting up a dedicated commission for collecting empirical data on the OBC population, specifying the proportion of reservation, and ensuring that the cumulative share of reserved seats don’t breach 50 per cent of total seats.