The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court has asked the Uttar Pradesh government and the State Election Commission to give their response within four weeks on a plea challenging the ceiling of 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in the local body elections in the state.
A bench of Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice O P Shukla passed the order on a PIL moved by the All India Backward Classes Federation, New Delhi.
The bench, in its order on Monday, granted two weeks to the petitioner to file its rejoinder. The court also directed its registry to list the matter for next hearing immediately after expiry of six weeks.
The bench further issued notice to the advocate general for his response as the vires of section 9(A) of Uttar Pradesh Municipalities Act, 1916 and the proviso appended to section 7 of Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporations Act, 1959 have also been challenged in this petition.
The petitioner alleged that as per the findings of the OBC Commission report, the population of OBCs in the local bodies was 36.77 per cent, but while issuing notification on April 9, 2023, the State Election Commission deviated from the report and constitutional provisions as the reservation fixed for OBCs by the said notification of April 9 was not commensurate to their proportion of population.
The petitioner urged the bench to strike down the assailed notification of April 9, 2023, declaring it to be illegal and arbitrary.
-With PTI Input
