Amidst the politics of wooing tribal communities, the BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government's focus on its other backward communities (OBC) outreach seems to have suffered a lag.
Despite the high-decibel claims of the state government that it was intent on providing 27 per cent reservation to the OBCs in public service and government direct recruitments, one of its latest attempts in this regard has met with a legal impediment, allegedly due to its lackadaisical approach in the matter.
On November 18, the Madhya Pradesh High Court gave a stay on a recent order of the state education department to allow 27 per cent reservation to OBCs in the recruitment of high school teachers. The division bench of chief justice Ravi Malimath and judge Vijay Shukla allowed only 14 per cent reservation for the communities while issuing a notice to the state government and listing the matter for final hearing on December 6.
The stay comes as a jolt to the state government that took a position in September this year that 27 per cent OBC reservation, as per the amended act of 2019, holds good for all direct recruitments and public services except those specific cases in which the HC had given stays earlier.
The advocate general's office had in August last week given an opinion to this extent to the state government saying that there was never an overreaching court stay on the 27 per cent OBC reservation rule. Based on this opinion, the general administration department had come out with an order on September 2, advising various state departments and district administration heads to comply with the 27 per cent reservation rule. The final selection list of high school teachers was issued by the state education department based on this GAD order, but it was challenged in High Court recently and resulted in the stay.
The Congress and petitioners supporting the enhancement of OBC reservation have accused the state government of not taking the legal proceedings seriously, resulting in the stay. Advocate Rameshwar Singh Thakur, who appears for the supporting petitioners in multiple cases, alleged that the advocate general (Prashant Singh) failed to appear in the teachers' recruitment case despite knowing the importance and the additional advocate general could not convince the court otherwise. “This shows the lack of seriousness on part of the government,” he said.
Congress leader J.P. Dhanopia, who is also chairman of the MP OBC Commission and a lawyer, also said that though the BJP government wants to take the credit of implementation of enhanced reservation to OBCs, it is not taking required legal steps.
Political slugfest
Like the tribal politics in MP, OBC politics has also been raging between the ruling BJP and the Congress. The OBC reservation in the state was enhanced to 27 per cent from an earlier 14 per cent through an amendment to the relevant Act in March 2019 by the Kamal Nath-led Congress government of the time. However, the recruitment orders based on the amendment were challenged in the HC and stays were given in at least three different cases in 2019 and 2020, thus putting the decision practically on the back burner.
The issue hung fire till August this year as the hearing (34 petitions clubbed together) continued in the High Court, but it was then raked up by the Congress in a major way as local bodies' polls and by-polls loomed. Congress accused the government of failing to take a strong stand in the court and a vociferous protest on this issue led to the state assembly being adjourned sine die within two days during the monsoon session in August.
The BJP government fielded the solicitor general of India, Tushar Mehta, in the court during a hearing on September 1. The chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan personally met Mehta for this in New Delhi for the purpose. The Congress on its part also announced that it will hoist senior advocates Indira Jaising and Abhishek Manu Singhvi to argue the case in favour of a group of individual and organisational litigants supporting the 2019 amendment to the reservation Act.
Then in a major move, on September 2, the BJP-ruled state government issued the order on 27 per cent reservation in all cases except those stayed by the High Court. However, the first of the recruitment orders of the government on this basis has failed the initial legal test.
Why is the issue important?
The clamour for credit taking on the issue is because, during the hearing in the court, an affidavit of the state government based on the unpublished caste census of 2011 showed that the OBC community constituted 50.9 per cent of Madhya Pradesh's population. However, the community had only 14 per cent reservation as against 20 per cent for ST and 16 for SC communities that constitute 21.1 per cent and 16.6 per cent population respectively.
Given the fact that more than half the population belongs to the OBC community, they can play a major role in the poll prospects of both parties, especially in the crucial 2023 assembly polls. The issue can also have an impact on the 2022 assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh which shares a long border with MP and families across state borders are related to each other.