Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
On May 22nd, the West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012, which classified 37 communities as Other Backward Classes (OBC), was overturned by the Calcutta High Court.
The OBC certificates granted under the Act were also canceled by a division bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Rajasekhar Mantha. The Court stated that this would not impact the citizens who had already received any benefits or employment under the 2012 Act.
“We strike down the section 16 of the Act of 2012 since it empowers State Executive to amend any schedule of the Act of 2012. Consequently, the 37 classes included under exercise of section 16 are struck out of schedule 1 of the Act of 2012,” the Bench held.
Additionally, it overturned a number of Executive Orders that the State had used to designate certain groups as OBCs in order to give reservations for public service.
The Bench mandated that the West Bengal Backward Class Welfare Department submit a report to the State legislature recommending the addition of new classes or the removal of existing ones from the State list of Other Backward Classes after consulting with the State Backward Class Commission.
The Court stressed that this would not impair the services of individuals from the 37 classes who are currently employed by the State, have received a reservation, or have been selected by the State.
It noted that the 2012 scheme, which governs the powers of the State, was completely devoid of legislative policy, and it directed the State to establish a legislative policy prior to delegating its authority to categorize any class as OBC.
In order for a State to exercise discretion under Article 16(4) of the Indian Constitution, it must present quantitative evidence of the class’s backwardness and inadequate representation in public employment. The State must also adhere to the legal standards established by the Supreme Court in a number of rulings, as the Court held that the rule of law is the one that the public trusts.
Senior Advocates LK Gupta and Guru Krishna Kumar, Advocates Subir Sanyal, Samir Pal, Debjani Ray, Bikram Banerjee, Sudipta Dasgupta, Dipa Acharyya, Sinjini Chakraborti, Baibhav Ray, Arkadeb Biswas, Arka Nandi, Sagarika Goswami, Saikat Sutradhar, Suryatapa Das, Sohini Dey, Sondwip Sutradhar, Sagar Dey, Sutirtha Nayek, Shalini Ghosh and Shaptarni Raha appeared for the Petitioners. Advocate General Kishore Datta, Senior Standing Counsel A Banerjee, Senior Advocate Tapan Kumar Mukherjee, Advocates A Mondal, I Banerjee and S Naskar represented the State. Deputy Solicitor Generals Dhiraj Kr Trivedi and Billwadal Bhattacharya, Advocates Kumar Jyoti Tewari and Amrita Pandey appeared for the National Commission for Backward Classes. Senior Advocate S Sen, Advocates A Mondal and A Ghatak represented the Backward Class Commission.
Name of the case: Amal Chandra Das vs State of West Bengal
Bench: Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Rajasekhar Mantha