Calcutta HC cancels OBC certificates issued after 2010, Mamata says 'will not accept'
Calcutta HC cancels OBC certificates issued after 2010, Mamata says 'will not accept'
NEW DELHI: In a major blow to the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday ordered cancellation of Other Backward Class (OBC) certificates issued after 201o in the state. The court junked the OBC status of several classes finding such reservations under an Act of 2012 to vacancies in services and posts in the state illegal. Reacting sharply to this, chief minister Mamata Banerjee refused to accept the court decision.
The court, however, clarified that the services of citizens of the struck-down classes, who are already in service or have availed the benefit of reservation or have succeeded in any selection process of the state will not be affected by the order.
In the judgement, the division bench comprising justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Rajasekhar Mantha clarified that the executive orders of the state government classifying 66 classes of OBC before 2010 were not interfered with, since these were not challenged in the petitions.
The bench directed that the state's executive orders classifying 42 classes as OBCs from March 5, 2010, to May 11, 2012, were also quashed, with prospective effect, in view of the illegality of the reports recommending such classification.
The bench said that the opinion and advice of the Backward Classes Commission is ordinarily binding on the state legislature under the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993.
The bench directed the Backward Classes Welfare Department of the state, in consultation with the Commission, to place a report before the legislature with recommendations for inclusion of new classes or for exclusion of remaining classes in the state list of OBCs.
"Will not accept the court order": Mamata
Addressing a poll rally in Bengal's Dumdum Lok Sabha constituency, Mamata Banerjee said the OBC reservation will continue in the state. She asserted that that Bill concerned was passed within the framework of the Constitution.
"The OBC reservation quota introduced by the West Bengal government will continue. We had drafted the Bill after conducting a house-to-house survey, and it was passed by the cabinet and the assembly," she said.
(With PTI inputs)
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