Read Time: 08 minutes

Synopsis

The Allahabad High Court on Monday issued notice in the Public Interest Litigation filed challenging the ceiling of 27% reservation for OBCs in local bodies elections in the state. 

The matter was taken up before the bench of Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Om Prakash Shukla.

The division bench ordered that "since vires of Section 9-A of U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916 and the proviso appended to Section 7 of U.P. Municipal Corporations Act 1959 had been challenged in the petition, notice be issued to Advocate General".

Court directed the state government of Uttar Pradesh and the State Election Commission to file their respective counter affidavits within four weeks. "Two weeks' time thereafter shall be available to learned counsel for the petitioner to file rejoinder affidavit," further said the court. 

The PIL has been moved by the All India Backward Classes Federation (AICF) through its State President Shri Kant Pal. The plea essentially assailed three allotment orders dated April 9, 2023, and a consequential notification issued by the State Election Commission (SEC) on the same date.

The petitioner has alleged that while issuing the assailed notification, the SEC deviated from the dedicated other backward classes (OBC) commission report and Constitutional provisions as the reservation provided to the OBCs via the said notification was not commensurate to their proportion of the population. As per the petition, the findings of the dedicated OBC commission report showed that the percentage of the OBCs in local bodies is 36.77%. 

The petitioner, therefore, has urged the court to strike down the assailed notification while declaring it manifestly illegal, and arbitrary. 

Moreover, through the plea, vires of Section 9-A of U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916 and the proviso appended to Section 7 of U.P. Municipal Corporations Act 1959 have also been challenged as they provide for a ceiling of 27% of reservation for OBCs in the state's local body elections. 

The petitioner has alleged that the ceiling put up by the challenged provisions is contrary to the dicta of the Supreme Court in K Krishna Murthy & Others v UOI & Others (2010) and Vikas Kishanrao Gawali v. State of Maharashtra & Others (2021) which provide that reservation to be provided to the OBCs should be calculated by first ascertaining their proportion of the total population and granting them the same subject to ceiling that the reservation provided to the SCs/STs/OBCs together should not exceed 50%. 

The petitioner has contended that as per the ruling of the top court, there can be no ceiling of 27% for reservation for OBCs as provided by the challenged provisions. 

"...it is settled law held by the Hon'ble Supreme Court that in the absence of explicit constitutional guidance as to the quantum of reservation in favor of backward classes in local self- government, the rule of thumb is that of proportional reservation. However, the upper ceiling of 50 % (quantitative limitation) with respect to vertical reservations in favor of SCS/ STS/OBCs should not be breached," the plea stated. 

The issue of UP Urban Local Body Election has traveled up to the Supreme Court. After Allahabad High Court's decision in December last year directing the SEC to notify the Urban Local Body (ULB) elections immediately without OBC quota, the state government moved the Top Court. 

The Apex Court, on January 4 this year, stayed the order of the high court and asked the SEC to complete its work by March. A dedicated Uttar Pradesh Backward Classes Commission was then set up to study the representation of OBCs in urban local bodies and the commission filed its report to the UP govt last month.

The SEC then notified the elections on March 30, 2023. SEC also notified the reserved constituencies for the purposes of elections to the local bodies. The SEC sought objections from the aggrieved person by April 6, however, the report of the dedicated commission was not in public domain by then. 

Case Title: All India Backward Classes Federation v. State of UP and Another