'Bihar Has 85% OBC Population' : RJD Approaches Supreme Court Against HC Striking Down Law On 65% Reservation

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Patna High Court's order which had set aside the Bihar Amendment Laws increasing reservation for Backward Classes, Scheduled Tribes(STs), Scheduled Castes(SC) and Extremely Backward Classes to 65% from 50%.

The bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra agreed to issue notice and tag it with the pending challenge to the High Court judgement. 

Senior Advocate P Wilson appearing for RJD submitted that Bihar had 85% population as the OBC. He referred to the decision of the Top Court in Janhit Abhiyan v. Union Of India, stating that the ratio applied to the present case too. 

In the said case, the Court by 3:2 majority held that the 103rd Constitutional Amendment which introduced 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in education and public employment did not violate the basic structure for breaching the 50% ceiling limit. Notably, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari in his opinion stated that the ceiling limits are not inflexible. 

The Court had previously admitted the petition filed by the State of Bihar. The Court also denied to grant stay on the impugned judgment. Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta had submitted that interview processes for employment were underway as per the law.

Background

On June 20, the High Court bench of Chief Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice Harish Kumar a PIL struck down the Bihar Reservation (for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Back Classes) (Amendment) Act, 2023, and the Bihar (in admission in educational institutions) Reservation (Amendment) Act, 2023.

Based on the data from the caste survey conducted in 2023, the State passed the amendments. The quota for Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) was raised from the existing 18% to 25%; for Backward Classes (BC) from 12% to 18%; for Scheduled Castes (SC) from 16% to 20%; and for Scheduled Tribes (ST), the quota has been doubled, from 1% to 2%.

The High Court set aside the amendments as ultra vires and being violative of equality under Articles 15(4) & 16 (4) of the Indian Constitution. Article 15(4) empowers the State to make any special provision for the advancement of SC, ST and any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens and Article 16 (4) provides that the State can reserve posts for any backward classes who are not adequately represented in the services of the State.

The Court provided the following reasons for striking down the amendments as unconstitutional: (a) there is a ceiling limit of 50% for reservations (b) the reservation was based on mere proportion to the population of backward classes (proportionate reservation) (c) State/respondent did not conduct any analysis or in-depth study before enhancing reservations under the amendment acts.