West Bengal withdraws OBC appeal
In a significant development, the new West Bengal Government on Tuesday withdrew from its appeal before the Supreme Court seeking setting aside of a previous Calcutta High Court order quashing a previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) Government’s decision to include 77 communities, mostly Muslims, in the State’s Other Backward Classes (OBC) list.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana allowed the petition withdrawing from the appeal after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Court that the State Cabinet had decided to withdraw the appeal. The State Backward Classes Commission also withdrew its separate appeal.
The BJP, then as the principal Opposition, had strongly opposed the Mamata Banerjee Government’s decision to include the Muslim communities “through the backdoor” to usurp the OBC quota meant for the genuine OBC castes mostly coming from the Hindu communities.
The SC allowed the withdrawals on conditions, however, that it would be open to hearing independent petitions if interested and aggrieved parties would come forward challenging the Calcutta High Court judgment.
The HC had, in May 2024, quashed the State’s decision to include 77 communities in the State’s OBC list, out of which 75 came from the Muslim community, asking how a community which comprised only 30 percent of the State’s population could fill 75 out of 77 communities.
“This list a product of TMC’s policy of appeasement, which not be pursued by the new Government as the BJP does not pursue a vote bank politics,” former Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar earlier said.
