Supreme Court Issues Notice In Plea Over OBC Exclusion From Reservation In Bihar Municipal Bodies

The Supreme Court on Friday (March 15) issued notice in a plea raising the issue of exclusion of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) from the scope of 'triple test' for reservation in Municipal Elections of Bihar.

The order was passed by a Bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan in petitioner's challenge to a Patna High Court judgment delivered on January 31, which dismissed his writ petition pertaining to the issue.

The question had initially come up before a Division Bench of the Patna High Court, which vide judgment dated October 4, 2022, declared that the reservation of seats for OBC and Extremely Backward Classes in urban local body elections of the state was illegal, as the quotas "failed two out of three tests" set by the top Court in Vikas Kishanrao Gawali v. State of Maharashtra & Ors. LL 2021 SC 13. The High Court further directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to re-notify seats reserved for OBC in the local polls as general category seats.

When review proceedings were initiated in respect of the judgment by the respondent-state, a 'Dedicated Commission' was formed to complete the 'triple test' exercise. This Commission submitted a report on EBCs, excluding OBCs from the ambit of the survey. Aggrieved, the petitioner filed a fresh writ petition before the High Court, in which the impugned judgment came to be passed. This judgment concluded that the earlier judgment of October, 2022 did not hold consideration of reservation only for EBCs to be illegal and bad.

Notably, the origins of the triple test lie in the Constitution Bench ruling in Dr K Krishna Murthy v. Union of India (2010), which focused on the interpretation of Article 243D(6) and Article 243T(6) of the Constitution. These articles authorize the enactment of laws allowing reservations for backward classes in panchayats and municipal bodies, respectively.

In the backdrop of this judgment, the top Court in Vikas Kishanrao Gawali propounded the triple test, which is to be followed before providing reservation to the OBC category. In terms of this test, the government shall:

a) Set up a dedicated commission to conduct a rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness in local bodies;

b) Specify the proportion of reservation required in local bodies in light of recommendations of the commission, so as not to fall foul of overbreadth;

c) Ensure reservation for SCs/STs/OBCs taken together does not exceed an aggregate of 50 per cent of the total seats.

The petition has been moved through and argued by Advocate on Record Rahul Shyam Bhandari.

Case Title: Sunil Kumar v. The State of Bihar and Ors., SLP(C) No. 5864/2024