SC orders Maharashtra SEC to notify local body elections within four weeks
A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice N. Kotiswar Singh also clarified that the issue of OBC reservation in these elections will be dealt with as it existed before the 2022 Banthia Commission report.
The top court accepted the Banthia Commission's recommendation, which had suggested that a census be conducted to gather accurate data on Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and had proposed 27 percent reservation for OBCs in local body elections.
However, the Court said that until the triple test criteria laid down in its earlier 2010 judgment are fully met, these reserved seats will continue to be treated as general category seats.
The bench set a four-month deadline for the completion of the election process and allowed the SEC to seek more time if needed. It also clarified that the results of these elections will depend on the outcome of pending cases related to OBC reservation in the Supreme Court.
This decision came in response to a plea filed by the Maharashtra government, which had sought to reverse an earlier Supreme Court order.
That order had prevented the State Election Commission from restarting the election process for 367 local bodies, where polling had already begun, to accommodate OBC reservations.
Previously, the Maharashtra government issued an ordinance granting 27% reservation to OBCs in local elections.
The government then approached the top court asking it to allow changes in the election process.
However, the Supreme Court had earlier warned the SEC of contempt if it moved forward without following legal procedures.
In 2021, the Supreme Court had struck down the SEC's attempt to implement OBC reservation without completing the triple test, which requires a dedicated commission to collect data on OBC backwardness in each local body, a clear determination of how much reservation is justified, and ensuring the total reservation for SC, ST, and OBCs does not exceed 50%.
The court reiterated that there can be no OBC reservation in the 367 local bodies, including 92 municipal councils and 4 nagar panchayats, where the election process had already started when the court put the process on hold in August 2022.
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