New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India has stayed the Chhattisgarh high court’s order declaring the Bhupesh Baghel government’s decision to give 58% reservation as ‘unconstitutional.’
A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol heard petitions challenging the high court’s squashing of a 2011 amendment which provided 58% quota in government jobs and government educational institutions to Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
The original law, brought in 1994, was changed through the Chhattisgarh Lok Seva (Anusuchit Jatiyon, Jan Jatiyon aur Anya Pichhade Vargon ke Liye Arakshan) (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam, 2011.
According to the 2012 amendment, the quota for SCs was slashed by 4% to 12%, while reservation for STs was increased by 12% from 20% to 32%. The reservation for OBCs was kept unchanged at 14%.
In 2020, a division bench of Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami and Justice P.P. Sahu of the Chhattisgarh high court struck down the amendment.
“No materials have been placed before this court to justify the impugned amendment brought in by Amendment Act of 2011 and such amendment has been effected breaching 50% ceiling without any exercise being undertaken with regard to representation of various classes such as SCs, STs and OBCs in service,” the high court had said.
LiveLaw has reported that the apex court instructed the Chhattisgarh government to specify in its orders that the outcome of its ongoing recruitment process would be subject to the apex court’s final verdict with respect to the constitutionality of the 2011 amendment. The bench then directed this set of appeals to be listed in July.
The state government, through counsels Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Sumeer Sodhi, had said that the high court’s decision to call the amendment unconstitutional has affected ongoing recruitment processes.