SC to Hear State of West Bengal’s Plea To Stay Calcutta HC Order Quashing Classification of 77 Communities as OBC on December 09

Today (Friday, November 22, 2024), the Supreme Court (SC) of India was hearing a petition filed by the State of West Bengal against the May 22 judgment of the Calcutta High Court (HC) that quashed the classification of 77 communities as OBC (Other Backward Classes) under the West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012. Also, the HC canceled all OBC certificates issued in West Bengal after 2010. The SC bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Viswanathan stated that they will consider the plea of the West Bengal Government to stay the Calcutta HC order on December 09, 2024. 

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for the State of West Bengal during the proceedings. He argued, “The inclusion of 77 [communities] have been struck down. We have indicated here that the Central List includes them. We included them from the Central List or from the Mandal Commission or from the counterparts SC/ST/OBC in the neighbouring States. The Court says they will strike it down despite it's there in the Central List...The result is, in education institutions, people cannot be admitted. Recruitments cannot take place. All OBCs notification has been struck down since 2010. How can this be?” 

Earlier in August this year, the SC bench of then Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra issued notice and directed the West Bengal Government to explain the basis for designating 77 communities as OBCs. The order reads, “Issue notice, including on the application of stay (of the judgment filed by the state government). The state of West Bengal shall file an affidavit before this court explaining the process followed for the classification of 77 communities as OBCs : (1) the nature of the survey; (2) whether there was a lack of consultation with the Commission (state backward panel) in respect of any communities in the list of 77 communities designated as OBCs.”