Bhopal: The Jabalpur High Court dismissed the petition challenging the 27% OBC (Other Backward Classes) reservation, filed by the Youth for Equality organization, on Tuesday. This decision paves the way for filling positions that were previously kept on hold, accounting for 13% of the reserved seats. The process of recruitment—whether it will be from the OBC or General category—will be decided by the government based on the High Court’s decision and the opinion of the law and legislative department. It’s important to note that the issue of providing 27% reservation to OBCs has been pending for five years. With this reservation, the total reservation in the state will rise to 63%. However, the Constitution Bench had set a limit of 50% reservation in the Indira Sawhney case of 2009. The then Kamal Nath government, aiming to benefit from the upcoming 2009 general elections, introduced a legislative amendment in the state assembly that raised the OBC reservation limit from 14% to 27%. This led to the total reservation in the state reaching 63%. Earlier, the reservation limits for Scheduled Tribes (ST) were 20%, for Scheduled Castes (SC) 16%, and for OBCs 14%. Because the total reservation exceeded 50%, this was challenged in the High Court, which imposed a stay on the 27% OBC reservation on January 20, 2020. Since then, the matter had been pending.
Recruitments were stalled, so in response, the then Advocate General advised the General Administration Department (GAD) on August 26, 2021, to fill the positions with a 13% cap. Following this advice, two separate lists were created starting from September 2, 2021—one for OBC candidates and one for the unreserved category—so that the recruitment process would be quicker once the decision was made. Since then, this system has been in place, but around 5,000 positions have remained vacant as a result. This includes around 2,400 positions for Sub-Engineers and other posts under the Staff Selection Board, as well as posts through the State Public Service Commission. Sanjay Dubey, Additional Chief Secretary of the General Administration Department, mentioned that the High Court’s order has not been received yet. Therefore, it’s still unclear which candidates will be appointed to the 13% positions that had been on hold. Once the order is received, it will be sent to the Law and Legislative Department for legal opinion, and a policy decision will be made by the government accordingly.
