Supreme Court Allows West Bengal Government To Withdraw 77 Communities From OBC List

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the West Bengal government to withdraw its appeal against the Calcutta High Court order that had struck down the inclusion of 77 communities in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) list.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud permitted the state government to withdraw the special leave petition (SLP) filed against the High Court judgment. The Calcutta High Court had earlier ruled that the inclusion of these 77 communities in the OBC list was not based on proper empirical data and was done in a hasty manner.

The state government, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, informed the apex court that it has decided to withdraw the appeal and will conduct a fresh exercise to determine the backwardness of the communities in question as per the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney case.

The decision comes after the Calcutta High Court had quashed the West Bengal government’s notification that added 77 communities to the OBC list, affecting reservations in education and government jobs.

The High Court had observed that the state had failed to conduct a proper survey and had included the communities without adequate data on their social and educational backwardness.

The Supreme Court’s permission to withdraw the appeal means the Calcutta High Court order will now stand, and the state government will have to redo the process of identifying backward classes in a more scientific and data-driven manner.

This development is likely to have a significant impact on reservation policies in West Bengal. The state government has been asked to complete the fresh exercise within a stipulated time frame.

The case had generated considerable political debate in West Bengal, with opposition parties accusing the Trinamool Congress government of resorting to “appeasement politics” through hasty OBC inclusions.

The Supreme Court has made it clear that any future inclusion in the OBC list must strictly follow constitutional parameters and be supported by quantifiable data.