Quota verdict: Bihar moves SC
In a major development, Bihar government has moved the Supreme Court (SC) challenging a Patna High Court order, setting aside the amended reservation laws in the state under which reservation quotas were increased from 50 to 65 per cent.
The Bihar government decided to increase reservation quotas for Dalits, tribals and backward classes hours after the caste survey report was tabled in the assembly last year.
RECAP
In its June 20 verdict, Patna High Court ordered that the amendments, passed unanimously by the state's bicameral legislature in November last year, were "ultra vires" of the Constitution, "bad in law" and "violative of the equality clause". The state's plea has been filed in the SC through advocate Manish Kumar.
A division bench of the High court had allowed a bunch of petitions challenging the Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) (Amendment) Act, 2023 and the Bihar (In Admission in Educational Institutions) Reservation (Amendment) Act, 2023, while "leaving the parties to suffer their respective costs".
The High Court clarified that it found "no extenuating circumstance enabling the state to breach" the 50-per cent cap on reservations laid down by the Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney case.
WHAT HIGH COURT SAID
"The state proceeded on the mere proportion of population of different categories as against their numerical representation in government services and educational institutions," the High Court pointed out.