CM Yogi welcomes SC order on holding UP local body polls with OBC quota

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday welcomed the Supreme Court allowing the State Election Commission to issue notifications regarding urban local polls in the state.

In a tweet in Hindi, Adityanath said, “Acceptance of the OBC Commission report by the Hon'ble Supreme Court and orders to conduct municipal body elections is welcome. The UP government is determined to conduct elections to urban local bodies in a time-bound manner while following the rules of reservation in a lawful manner.”

The Supreme Court on Monday paved the way for holding urban local elections in UP as it allowed the State Election Commission to issue a notification in this regard within two days with OBC quota as per the Uttar Pradesh Backward Classes report Commission.

Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said, “This Court in its order dated January 4, 2023, said that in view of the decision of this Court, the Government of Uttar Pradesh has issued a notice of determination in December 2022 in the Backward Classes Commission Uttar Pradesh. Although the tenure of the commission was six months, it had to complete its task by March 31, 2023.” He further stated, “The Solicitor General informs that the report was submitted on March 9, 2023, to the Cabinet. The local body election notification process is ongoing and will be completed in two days. The lawsuit is settled. The direction in this order cannot be used as a precedent.'

On January 4, the apex court quashed the Allahabad High Court's order directing the holding of urban local polls without reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs). It also ordered that the panel appointed by the state government to decide on issues related to the allocation of OBC quota for local polls will have to complete its performance within three months (by March 31), instead of six months as stipulated previously. 

Earlier, the state government, in its appeal against the High Court order dated December 27, 2022, had moved the apex court, saying that it cannot quash the draft notification issued on December 5 last year, which had provided for the reservation of seats in the Municipal Civil Body Examination for OBCs, except for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and women.

The appeal states that OBCs are a constitutionally protected section and the high court erred in quashing the draft notification. Following the High Court order, the Uttar Pradesh government appointed a five-member commission to look into the gamut of issues and provide reservations to OBCs in urban local polls.

The panel was headed by Justice (retired) Ram Avtar Singh. The four other members of the panel were retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers Chob Singh Verma and Mahendra Kumar and former legal advisers to the state government Santosh Kumar Viskarma and Brajesh Kumar Soni. The Lucknow bench of the high court ordered the state government to notify the polls "immediately" as the tenure of several municipalities expired by January 31, while quashing the draft notification dated December 5, 2022. The Supreme Court directed the State Election Commission to hold the elections by 31 January after the OBC seats were converted to general category in the draft notification.

The high court's order came on objections challenging the preparation of the OBC reservation proposal without following the 'triple test' prescribed by the Supreme Court. The triple test requires the establishment of a commission to conduct a "rigorous empirical inquiry" into the nature of "backwardness" in the context of local authorities, refine the share of reservations based on the commission's recommendations, and ensure that it does not exceed the overall 50 per cent quota limit. The Supreme Court ruled that the triple test condition formulated by the Supreme Court 11 years ago was mandatory. "Until the triple test is completed in all respects by the state government, no reservation will be provided to the backward class of citizens," the order said.