In a big relief for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Allahabad High Court (HC) order directing the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Government to hold pending urban local body polls without any reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
The apex court permitted the State Government to appoint administrators to run the affairs of the local bodies after the expiry of tenure of elected representatives. The Bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha said holding elections without reservation for OBCs would not be correct, even as a constitutional vacuum in terms of vacant seats cannot be allowed.
The top court’s order will help Yogi Adityanath to silence his political critics who have been accusing him of not representing the case properly in the HC and hatching a conspiracy to end the OBC reservation. The Bench took note of the submissions of Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the UP Government and directed that a panel appointed by the Government will have to decide the OBC quota related issues for the local bodies’ poll by March 31, 2023. The Bench also said that holding elections without reservation for OBCs would not be correct, even as a constitutional vacuum in terms of vacant seats cannot be allowed. The Court directed that the administrators will not be empowered to take major policy decisions.
“Pending further orders, such direction shall remain stayed. To ensure that administration of local bodies is not hampered, the Government will be at liberty to issue delegation and financial powers. This is subject to the caveat that no major policy decision shall be taken by the administrator,” the top court ordered.
The Judges while passing orders asked Mehta, how much time the panel would take to decide the OBC quota related issues.
“But can there be a constitutional vacuum for three months? Again, holding polls without OBCs will not be correct since a large part will go unrepresented. Cannot the commission form a preliminary report?,” asked the CJI.
The Lucknow Bench of the HC, comprising Justices Saurabh Lavania and DK Upadhyaya had, on December 27, directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to conduct elections on an immediate basis without OBC reservation, since the concerned State notification failed to fulfill the triple test formula laid down by the Supreme Court. The judges had, however, directed the authorities to include reservation for women as per the Constitution.
The HC had quashed a Government notification dated December 5, issued by the Department of Urban Development, noting that the Government intended to conduct local body elections after reserving four Mayor seats in the State for OBCs.
The Court had observed that the State has not set up a dedicated Commission for conducting an empirical study into the nature and implications of backwardness for the purposes of providing reservation to OBCs in the local self-government institutions, and thereby has not made necessary changes to the statutory prescriptions.