Reservation in India like railway, those inside don't want others to come in: SC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday compared reservation in the country with "a railway" or a train and said those who enter the compartment "don’t want others to come in".

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh made the remarks while hearing a plea opposing the other backward class (OBC) reservation in Maharashtra local body elections.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for petitioner Mangesh Shankar Sasane, submitted that the Maharashtra government's Jayant Kumar Banthia-led commission awarded 27 per cent reservation to OBCs in the local body elections without actually ascertaining if they were politically backward.

Justice Kant turned to Sankaranarayanan and said, "The thing is, in this country, the reservation business has become like a railway. Those who have entered the compartment, they don't want anyone else to enter. This is the whole game. That is precisely the game of the petitioner also."

Sankaranarayanan said compartments were being "added at the back also" and submitted political backwardness was distinct from social and educational backwardness, and the OBCs couldn't be automatically presumed to be politically backward.

"Within the OBCs, politically backward and socially backward classes should be identified for the purpose of reservations," he said.

Justice Kant said when one follows the principle of inclusivity, states were bound to identify more classes.

"There will be social backward class, politically backwards class, and economically backward classes. Why should they be deprived of the benefit? Why should it be confined to one particular family or group?" he added.

The top court issued notice on the plea and sought the state government's response while tagging the matter with the pending ones.

In the meantime, in another matter over OBC reservations in Maharashtra local bodies, the bench ordered the state election commission to notify the polls in four weeks which are to be held in line with the period before the 2022 Banthia Commission report.

The bench ordered the state panel to conclude the elections in four months and granted liberty to the state election commission (SEC) to seek more time in appropriate cases.

The outcome of Maharashtra local body elections would be subject to decisions in pending petitions before apex court, it added.

On 22 August 2022, the top court directed the SEC and the Maharashtra government to maintain the status quo with regard to the poll process to the local bodies in the state.