Calcutta High Court scraps all OBC certificates issued in Bengal since 2010.

The policy of politically motivated Muslim reservation for OBC was bad in law. 

Calcutta HC cancels five lakh OBC certificates for 77 groups, mostly from Muslim communities. 

Sankirtan Das | HENB | Kolkata | May 23, 2024:: The Calcutta high court on Wednesday scrapped Other Backward Classes (OBCs) certificates awarded to 77 communities since 2010, an overwhelming majority of them Muslim, and called the classification process illegal, marking a significant verdict that came as a blow to the ruling Trinamool Congress in the middle of ongoing general elections.

The court struck down several classes for reservation as Other Backward Classes (OBC) given under The West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012.

In a judgement on a batch of petitions challenging the provisions of the Act and the process of issuing certificates, the court stated 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.

The judgment sparked a political controversy with chief minister Mamata Banerjee saying she won’t accept the ruling, and Union home minister Amit Shah accusing the Bengal government of appeasement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also called the Calcutta HC’s order a “slap on the INDI alliance” saying that TMC gave Muslims OBC certificates for their “vote bank politics.”

“This is appeasement. These people say Muslims have the first right over the country’s resources. These people are giving government land to the waqf board to get them to vote for them. They want to reserve a 15% budget for minorities. They want to give loans, and government tenders on the basis of religion,” PM Modi said.

On Calcutta High Court cancelling all OBC certificates issued in West Bengal after 2010, Chairman of NCBC Commission, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said, “The verdict of Calcutta HC to cancel all OBC certificates after 2010, in West Bengal. During our review in 2023, we saw that after 2010, 65 Muslim castes and 6 Hindu castes were added to the OBC list. We asked for a report regarding the same but the State Govt did not provide us any report…The verdict of the court is absolutely right and we welcome this…”

Roughly 500,000 people are likely to be affected by the judgment. The court barred the state from appointing people from these communities with immediate effect but said those appointed so far on the basis of OBC certificates will not be touched.

“This court is of the view that the selection of 77 classes of Muslims as Backward is an affront to the Muslim community as a whole. This court’s mind is not free from doubt that the said community has been treated as a commodity for political ends,” said a division bench of justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Rajasekhar Mantha.

“Identification of the classes in the aid community as OBCs for electoral gains would leave them at the mercy of the concerned political establishment and may defeat and deny other rights. Such reservation is therefore also an affront to Democracy and the Constitution of India as a whole,” the order added.

West Bengal provides 17% percent OBC reservation, divided into two buckets — OBC A which has 10% and 81 communities, out of which 56 are Muslims, and OBC B which has 7% and 99 communities, out of which 41 are Muslims.

Through this politically motivated OBC reservation with a religious bias, the ruling TMC Government in West Bengal facilitated more than 90% members of Muslim community under the cover of Minority appeasement.

Prominent OBC leader and General Secretary of Chashi-Kaivarta-Mahisya Samaj, Siddhananda Purkait told HENB, “We welcome yesterday’s judgement of Hon’ble Calcutta High Court on behalf of Chashi-Kaivarta-Mahisya Samaj. Now it is clear as day light that the Chief Minister of West Bengal has deprived the Hindu OBC community by including almost all the Muslim communities in the OBC list after 2010 to appease the Muslims without compliance to the law of the land in force. We have always opposed Muslim vote bank politics by giving reservations to  OBCs based on religion. We, on behalf of the Kaivarta-Mahishya Samaj, are demanding the immediate issuance of certificates to genuine OBC people on socio-economic basis, implementing the recommendation of the High Court to cancel five lakh invalid OBC certificates”.

In a facebook live Prasun Maitra of Aatmadeep, one of the petitioners in the contentious case, also welcomed the judgement of Calcutta High Court and condemned the biased tune of OBC reservation introduced by WB CM Mamata Banerjee giving 17.5% reservations to OBC -A (almost from Muslims category) and only 10% reservation to OBC -B, grossly depriving the Hindu OBC people.

The court directed that a fresh list of OBCs be prepared based on the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes Act of 1993 by the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes. The high court bench termed the OBC list prepared after 2010 as ‘illegal.’

Accordingly, The West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012 section 2H, 5, 6 and Section 16 and Schedule I and III were struck down by high court as ‘unconstitutional’.

“The PIL filed (in 2011) claimed that all OBC certificates given out after 2010 bypassed the 1993 (West Bengal Backward Class Commission) Act. Those actually from backward class were not offered their due certificates. The Division Bench’s decision today annulled all OBC certificates given out after 2010. Those with OBC certificate before 2010 will not bear the brunt of the Calcutta HC hearing”, Advocate Sudipta Dasgupta said.This effectively means that all OBC certificates issued between 2010 and 2024 have been set aside and now person can now avail the benefit of various schemes provided to the holders of these Certificate.

Meanwhile, the court further added that there was no interference with regard to the state government’s executive orders classifying 66 classes of OBCs before 2010, as the petitions did not challenge them.

Upananda Brahmachari, the prominent Hindu interlocutor commented through his X handle, “The policy of politically motivated Muslim reservation for OBC in WB as planned by WB CM Mamata Banerjee was bad in law”.  

Click here to read order for WPO 60 of 2011
AMAL CHANDRA DAS
-Vs THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL AND OTHERS and Other Matters

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__Inputs from PTI & Live Law.