Reservation of Other Backward Classes in Local Body Elections
Recently, the Center is considering filing a review petition in the Supreme Court for allowing reservation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in local body elections.
The central government will file a review petition in the Supreme Court seeking permission for political reservation of OBCs in local bodies and municipal corporations, as long as the states do not follow the three-stage criteria process laid down by the Supreme Court.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had ruled to do away with the 27% reservation in favor of OBCs. This reservation was implemented by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh in their local bodies.
This order of the Supreme Court is based on the decision given in the Krishna Murti case. This order was given by a five-judge Constitutional Bench in the year 2010. This case was related to the issue of reservation in local bodies.
The decision emphasized that constraints on political participation are not of the same nature as those limiting access to education and employment.
The three-tier criteria include:
- Establishment of a dedicated commission within the state. This commission will conduct contemporary empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of backwardness with respect to local bodies.
- Fixing the proportion of reservation required to be made local body-wise as per the recommendations of the Commission
- Reservation should not exceed 50% of the total number of seats reserved in the combined favor of Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
Source – The Hindu
