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ULB Polls Quota Matter| Allahabad HC Extends Stay On Issuance Of Polls Notification Till Dec 21, Clubs Similar Pleas
Sparsh Upadhyay
20 Dec 2022 9:18 PM IST
The Allahabad High Court today clubbed all the pleas moved before it challenging the State government's December 5 notification whereby it sought objections to fixing of OBC quota in the Urban Local Body Elections. The Court has posted the matter for further hearing on December 21.The Court has also extended its earlier order restraining the State Election Commission from announcing Urban...
The Allahabad High Court today clubbed all the pleas moved before it challenging the State government's December 5 notification whereby it sought objections to fixing of OBC quota in the Urban Local Body Elections. The Court has posted the matter for further hearing on December 21.
The Court has also extended its earlier order restraining the State Election Commission from announcing Urban Local Body Elections notification till tomorrow.
The bench of Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Saurabh Srivastava ordered this after noting that the issues raised in such pleas could be disposed of on the basis of pleadings between the parties in the main PIL plea pending before it [Vaibhav Pandey vs. State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Deptt. Urban Development, Civil Secrt. Lko. And Another PIL No. - 878 of 2022].
It may be noted that in this PIL plea, the petitioners have objected to the fact that the UP Government intends to conduct Urban Local Body Elections after reserving 4 mayor seats in the state for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) despite not fulfilling the 'triple test' formalities as prescribed in the case of Vikas Kishanrao Gawali v. State of Maharashtra & Ors. LL 2021 SC 13 by the Top Court, to determine the political backwardness of OBCs.
For context, in the Vikas Kishanrao Gawali case, the Apex Court had noted that a triple test is to be followed before provisioning reservation for the OBC category. The said triple test involves
(1) setting up a dedicated Commission to conduct a contemporaneous rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness qua local bodies, within the State;
(2) specifying the proportion of reservation required to be provisioned local body-wise in light of recommendations of the Commission, so as not to fall foul of overbreadth; and
(3) not exceeding an aggregate of 50 percent of the total seats reserved in favour of SCs/STs/OBCs taken together.
Hearing the matter last week, the HC had sought to know from the Government as to whether it has completed the 'Triple Test' formality before coming up with its draft order on December 5.
In response to this query of the Court, the State Government this week submitted before the Allahabad High Court that in essence, it is complying with the 'Triple Test' mandate of the Supreme Court to institute OBC quotas in Urban Local Body Elections.
The submission was made in a counter affidavit filed before the HC in response to the HC's query raised earlier asking whether, in the process of reserving the seats for the purpose of Urban Local Bodies' election, the State Government completed the 'Triple Test' formalities as mandated by the Supreme Court.
Read more about the UP Government's reply here: ULB Polls| State Fulfills 'Triple Test' Formality For OBC Quota: UP Govt Informs Allahabad High Court
Case Title - Vaibhav Pandey vs. State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Deptt. Urban Development, Civil Secrt. Lko. And Another [PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION (PIL) No. - 878 of 2022]
Click Here To Read/Download Order
