A division bench of the Calcutta High Court declined to intervene immediately in the recent notification by the new Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled West Bengal government regarding other backward class (OBC) reservation. The notification issued by the state government in May this year canceled the recognition of 74 communities under the OBC category, previously acknowledged by the Trinamool Congress government.
The new state government’s notification announced a seven per cent reservation for OBC category individuals. A public interest litigation challenging this notification was filed at the Calcutta High Court by Mijanur Rahman. The court heard the matter, where the former advocate general of West Bengal argued against the cancellation of OBC community recognition without adequate reasons.
Despite arguments presented, the division bench noted that previous court rulings had canceled OBC certificates issued after 2010 and rejected the inclusion of 74 new communities by the previous government. The bench stated that the current public interest litigation was premature, and the court would not intervene at this stage. The parties involved were instructed to file affidavits, with the next hearing scheduled in six weeks.
