State panel examining issue of backward classes afresh, Bengal govt tells Supreme Court

New Delhi: The West Bengal government on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that the state commission for backward classes was examining the issue of backwardness afresh.

The state government informed a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih that the exercise of the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes was likely to be completed within three months.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state, requested the bench to post the hearing after three months and apprised the bench of the state's decision.

The bench noted Sibal's submission and posted the matter in July.

The exercise, the court said, would be without prejudice to the rights of either of the parties in the proceedings.

The pleas, including the one by the state, have challenged the Calcutta High Court's May 22 2024 verdict that struck down the OBC status of several castes in West Bengal granted since 2010.

The high court held as illegal their reservation in public sector jobs and state-run educational institutions.

"Religion indeed appears to have been the sole criterion for declaring these communities as OBCs," it said.

The high court also said the "selection of 77 classes of Muslims as backwards is an affront to the Muslim community as a whole".

It was dealing with petitions challenging the provisions of the state's 2012 reservation law and reservations granted in 2010.

The high court, however, had clarified that the services of citizens of the struck-down classes, who were already in service or had availed the benefit of reservation, or succeeded in any selection process of the state, would not be affected by the judgment.

It had struck down 77 classes of reservation given between April, 2010 and September, 2010 aside from 37 classes for reservation as OBC given under the West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012.

On August 5 last year, the apex court asked the state government to provide quantifiable data on social and economic backwardness of fresh castes it had included in the OBC list and on their inadequate representation in public sector jobs.

It also asked the state to file an affidavit giving details of the consultations, if any, conducted by it and the state's backward classes panel before including 37 castes, mostly Muslim groups, in the OBC list.