Supreme Court
The Supreme Court, while hearing the application of the West Bengal government on Monday, said that reservation cannot be given on the basis of religion. In fact, the West Bengal government had approached the Supreme Court regarding the decision to give reservation under OBC to 77 castes of the state. Most of these 77 castes are from the Muslim community. The West Bengal government had challenged the decision of the Calcutta High Court, in which giving reservation to these castes under OBC had been declared illegal.
Hearing the petition of the West Bengal government, a bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Vishwanathan made it clear that reservation can be given only on the basis of social and economic backwardness and not on the basis of religion. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state government, said that this reservation has not been given on the basis of religion, but on the basis of backwardness.
The High Court had declared it illegal
On May 22, the High Court had quashed the provisions of OBC reservation implemented in West Bengal since 2010, saying that OBC status was given only on the basis of religion, which is not in accordance with the Constitution. At the same time, the High Court had also declared the reservation law made by the state illegal in 2012. After this decision, the decision to give reservation under OBC to 77 Muslim castes in West Bengal was cancelled. However, the rights of those who had already availed the benefits of reservation in government jobs or educational institutions will not be affected.
Next hearing will be on January 7
The next hearing of this case will now be on January 7. Sibal had appealed to the court to issue an interim order with immediate effect to stay the High Court order, which could impact the rights of thousands of students and job seekers.
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