SC to hear on Jan 4 UP govt’s plea against Allahabad HC order to conduct local body polls without OBC quota

NEW DELHI, (ANI): The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear on January 4 the plea of Uttar Pradesh government challenging the Allahabad High Court order directing the State poll panel to hold urban local body elections without reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned the matter on behalf of the Uttar Pradesh government before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud for an urgent hearing.

The apex court said it will hear the case on Wednesday. The Uttar Pradesh government has approached the top court challenging the December 27 order of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court where it quashed a government’s order of December 5 proposing reservations for OBCs in civic elections.

The High Court had ordered the State Election Commission to “immediately” notify elections to the urban local bodies without OBC quotas. The High Court had said that until the “triple test” as mandated by the Supreme Court is completed in all respects by the State government, no reservation for the Backward Class of citizens shall be provided in the urban local body polls.

The High Court had asked the State government to set up a commission to conduct an empirical study on the nature and backwardness to be able to have OBC quotas in the next election to urban local bodies but stressed that it could not pause the election process till this humongous and time taking task was completed. After the order, Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in a statement, said his government would constitute a survey commission to ensure that the benefits of the reservation are provided to the OBCs on the basis of the “triple test”.

The government later constituted a five-member committee to carry out a survey to ensure adequate reservation for OBCs in the State urban local body polls by fulfilling the “triple test” formality as mandated by the Supreme Court. The High Court had directed to include reservations for women as per the constitution.

The order of the High Court came on a bunch of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) alleging that the entire exercise of reservation of seats in the municipalities is being carried out by the State government in “complete derogation and defiance” of the mandate of the Supreme Court. On December 5, the Urban Development Department of the Uttar Pradesh government announced reservations for the seats of the Mayor in municipal corporations and Chairpersons of Nagar Palika Parishads and Nagar Panchayats. (ANI)