NEW DELHI:

Supreme Court

on Monday refused to stay

Calcutta high court

‘s May 22 judgment quashing inclusion of 77 communities, 75 of them

Muslims

, in West Bengal‘s

OBC list

and sought details of surveys determining their

social and educational backwardness

and under-representation in govt jobs requiring their inclusion in the OBC list.
While agreeing to examine the validity of the HC judgment, a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked advocate Astha Sharma, representing West Bengal govt, to file an affidavit within a week detailing the process followed to include 77 communities in the OBC list through various executive orders between 2010 and 2012.

“The state shall clarify the nature of survey, if any, carried out to determine social and educational backwardness of the communities included in the OBC list as well the survey to find out their inadequate representation in state govt employment for making them entitled to reservation,” the bench ordered.
The CJI-led bench also asked the state to give details of the consultation it had with West Bengal Backward Class Commission on sub-classification of any community, especially 37 (for which there was allegedly no consultation). The state should also clarify the nature of survey or data in its possession prior to designating these 77 communities as OBCs, it said.

It was a fiery beginning to arguments as senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for the TMC govt, launched a scathing criticism of the HC for bringing reservations for OBCs to a standstill in the state and went on to say the HC wanted that for inclusion of every community in the OBC list, the state must pass a legislation.
“If the HC wants to run the govt, let it run. But I need an answer from the Supreme Court,” Jaising said, and added that the HC quashed the additions to the OBC list because they belonged to the Muslim community, many of whom were already included in the Centre’s OBC list.
A host of senior advocates – Mukul Rohatgi, P S Patwalia, Ranjit Kumar, Guru Krishna Kumar with advocate Bansuri Swaraj – termed the state’s decision to include the 77 communities, within months of CM Mamata Banerjee making an announcement in a rally, as an “egregious act”.