The Supreme Court on Monday (July 28, 2025) stayed the Calcutta High Court’s decision that had stalled the implementation of a revised list of OBCs notified by the West Bengal government. File
| Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap
The Supreme Court on Monday (July 28, 2025) stayed a Calcutta High Court decision to freeze West Bengal government’s new list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai also issued notice on the West Bengal petition.
“Prima facie the order is totally erroneous,” Chief Justice Gavai remarked while offering to request the High Court Chief Justice to constitute a Special Bench to hear the case within a specified period. However, the parties urged the apex court to hear the case itself. The petition was listed after two weeks.
The Court had, on a previous occasion, said that a nine-judge Bench in Indira Sawhney case in 1992 had already held that backward classes in the society could be identified through Executive directions.
The High Court had ordered the stay on June 17 on the basis of a writ petition that a new list could be prepared only if the exercise was backed by legislation.
In March, West Bengal had opted to withdraw from the Supreme Court its appeal against a High Court judgment of May 2024 which struck down a State policy to include several castes, largely Muslim communities, in the OBC list.
The High Court had concluded that religion was the “sole criterion for declaring these communities as OBC”. It had found the “selection of 77 classes of Muslims as backwards an affront to the Muslim community as a whole”.
At the time of the withdrawal of the appeal from the top court, Mr. Sibal had informed that the State Backward Classes Commission would prepare a fresh list after identifying socially and educationally backward communities.
The 2024 High Court judgment had impacted five lakh OBC certificates issued in the State since 2010. It had struck down portions of the West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012.
Among the Sections nullified were Section 16, the second part of Section 2(h), and Section 5(a) of the Act, which distributed reservation percentages of 10% and 7% to the sub-classified categories. Consequently, the sub-classified categories OBC-A and OBC-B were removed from Schedule I of the Act.
Published – July 28, 2025 12:39 pm IST
