UP government moves SC against HCs order to conduct local body polls without OBC quota 

NEW DELHI: Yogi Adityanath led Uttar Pradesh government has approached Supreme Court against Allahabad High Court’s order of directing state to conduct Urban Local Body Polls (ULB) without OBC reservation. 

Allahabad HC’s December 27 order had come in batch of pleas that had challenged state government’s December 5 draft notification for providing proposed reservation for OBCs in civic elections. The pleas had also challenged state’s December 12 notification which provides for operation of bank accounts of Municipalities under joint signatures of Executive Officers and the Senior Most Officer in Uttar Pradesh Palika Centralized Service (Accounts Cadre). 

A bench of Justices Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Saurabh Lavania while quashing December 5 and 12 notification ruled that the government could not notify OBC reservations for civic elections till fulfilment of three conditions laid down by the Supreme Court’s constitution bench in 2010. The HC had also ordered the state to “immediately” notify elections to the urban local bodies without OBC quotas. Additionally the bench directed the government to set up commission for to conducting an empirical study on the nature and backwardness to be able to have OBC quotas in the next election to urban local bodies. 

“We have issued the direction to immediately notify the elections being guided by the provisions of Article 243-U of the Constitution of India which mandates that election to constitute a municipality shall be completed before expiry of its duration. We understand that collection and collation of materials by the dedicated Commission is a humongous and time taking task, however, formation of elected municipal bodies by (an) election cannot be delayed for the reason of constitutional mandate contained in Article 243-U of the Constitution of India. Thus to fortify the democratic character of governance of society, it is essential that the elections are held at the earliest which cannot wait,” the bench said.

UP government in plea before SC had argued that the HC erred in quashing draft notification since OBCs are constitutionally protected.