Latest news with #RajasekharMantha
The Hindu
4 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Calcutta HC orders interim stay on notification of OBC list in W.B.
In a setback to the West Bengal government, the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed an interim stay on the preparation of a new list of Other Backward Caste (OBC) communities. A Division Bench of Justices Rajasekhar Mantha and Tapabrata Chakraborty issued the interim stay till the next date of hearing on July 31. The order was passed by the Division Bench following a petition seeking intervention of the High Court. The court also put a stay on the State government's decision to open a portal for submission of caste certificates for the purpose of addition of OBC communities in the new list. The Calcutta High Court in May 2024 had cancelled the OBC reservation awarded to 77 categories, highlighting a complete lack of legislative policy within the 2012 scheme to classify any group as OBC. The State government has approached the Supreme Court and the matter is pending before it. On June 10, the West Bengal government tabled a new OBC list in the State Assembly with minor changes compared to the previous list. Question posed During the proceedings in the court, the Division Bench asked why the new OBC list had been finalised by introducing amendments to the 2012 Act. The High Court's order came on a day when the State government opened a portal for admission in colleges and universities based on the new OBC list. There seems to be no clarity on the fate of the admission process particularly for those availing admission under the OBC category. Decision welcomed Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari in a social media post welcomed the order 'to stay the inclusion of 76 Muslim classes in the new OBC list prepared by the Mamata Banerjee government'. The Bengal BJP leadership had accused the Trinamool Congress government of 'appeasement politics' for including Muslims in the OBC list. Mr. Adhikari said contrary to the claims of the State Advocate General that the Opposition has not opposed the OBC list tabled in Assembly, he had raised objections to the fresh OBC list tabled by the Chief Minister.
Hindustan Times
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Calcutta high court orders stay on Bengal govt's revised OBC list notification
Kolkata: The Calcutta high court on Tuesday ordered a stay till July 31 on the state's notification on the revised Other Backward Class (OBC) list in which 140 communities were added, lawyers who attended the hearing said. The court observed that legal procedures and court directives were violated by the state. Lawyer Bikram Bandopadhyay, who represented petitioners challenging the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government's June 10 notification, said the division bench of justices Rajasekhar Mantha and Tapabrata Chakraborty ordered the interim stay not only on the issuance of the notification but also on issuance of OBC certificates based on the new list. 'The bench raised several questions when we pointed out that a proper survey on economic conditions and other parameters of 140 communities cannot be done in one and a half months as claimed by the state,' Bandopadhyay told the media after the hearing. During the hearing, justice Mantha criticised the state saying: 'You did half the work under the 2012 OBC Act and then reverted to the 1993 Act. Why is this inconsistency?' The order, which was passed after back-to-back hearings since Monday, was not uploaded on the high court's website till late evening. Petitions challenging the government notification were filed by three individuals and Atmadeep, a human rights organisation. In May 2024, after hearing petitions filed by the same petitioners, the division bench of justices Rajasekhar Mantha and Tapabrata Chakraborty cancelled the OBC status awarded to 77 Muslim communities by the state since 2010. This prompted the government to suspend quota-based recruitments and college admissions and move the Supreme Court where the matter is still pending. Of these 77 communities, 42 were earmarked for OBC status by the erstwhile Left Front government in 2010, a year before the Marxists were ousted by chief minister Mamata Banerjee's TMC. The court barred the state from appointing people from these communities with immediate effect but said those who have joined service so far on the basis of OBC reservation will not be affected. In the May 2024 order, a copy of which was seen by HT, the bench said: 'This Court is of the view that the selection of 77 classes of Muslims as Backward is an affront to the Muslim community as a whole. This Court's mind is not free from doubt that the said community has been treated as a commodity for political ends. This is clear from the chain of events that led to the classification of the 77 classes as OBCs and their inclusion to be treated as a vote bank.' 'Identification of the classes in the said community as OBCs for electoral gains would leave them at the mercy of the concerned political establishment and may defeat and deny other rights. Such reservation is therefore also an affront to democracy and the Constitution of India as a whole,' the order said. The Bharatiya Janata Party's West Bengal unit president Sukanta Majumdar welcomed Tuesday's order, saying 'it has exposed the TMC's efforts to appease Muslims through the backdoor.' Defending the state, TMC spokesperson Arup Chakraborty said: 'The survey on economic condition and other parameters was conducted following guidelines set by the court. It is a propaganda that a specific community is being benefitted.' State government lawyers said the interim stay would be challenged at the Supreme Court immediately.
NDTV
9 hours ago
- Politics
- NDTV
Calcutta High Court Pauses Bengal OBC Reservation Notifications
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered an interim stay on notifications issued by the West Bengal government with regard to reservations to 140 subsections under OBC-A and OBC-B categories made by it. A division bench comprising justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Rajasekhar Mantha, in an interim stay till July 31, directed that executive notifications between May 8 and June 13 with regard to Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories made by the state government will not be given effect to till that date. The court directed that all consequential acts thereof will also remain stayed till July 31. All the parties in the matter were directed by the court to file their affidavits in the meantime on their contentions with regard to the challenge over new benchmark surveys for the purpose of inclusion under OBC categories in a PIL and the notifications. The state government has included 49 subsections under the OBC-A and 91 under the OBC-B categories vide the executive notifications. It has been stated that while more backward sections of people have been included under OBC-A, the less backward people come under OBC-B. The Calcutta High Court had in May 2024 struck down the OBC status of several classes in West Bengal granted since 2010, finding such reservations to vacancies in services and posts in the state are illegal. The court struck down 77 classes of reservation given between April 2010 and September 2010, and 37 classes were created based on the state's Reservation Act of 2012. This order was challenged before the Supreme Court by the West Bengal government and the matter is pending there.
