Kolkata, July 22 (SocialNews.XYZ) A division bench of the Calcutta High Court, on Wednesday, refused an immediate intervention in the of the recent notification issued by the new Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled and Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari-led West Bengal government on other backward class (OBC) reservation in the state.
The last notification issued by the state government in May this year cancelled the recognition of 74 communities under the OBC category, who were recognised by the previous Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government.
In the notification, the new state government announced seven per cent reservation for the OBC category people.
A public interest litigation in the matter was filed at the Calcutta High Court by one individual, Mijanur Rahman challenging the notification from the state government.
The matter came up for hearing by the division bench of the Calcutta High Court’s Acting Chief Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Rajasekhar Mantha on Wednesday.
The counsel for the petitioner and the former advocate general of West Bengal, Kishor Datta argued that the fresh notification cancelling the recognition of 74 communities under the OBC category, who were recognised by the previous regime, was issued without citing adequate reasons behind the cancellation.
Datta argued that because of this cancellation, the candidates from these 74 communities are not able to take advantage of reservation in state government jobs and even admission in colleges and universities.
He argued that despite the change in regime, there could not be abrupt changes in the government policies.
However, his argument was not accepted by the division bench, which observed that all OBC certificates issued in West Bengal after 2010 were cancelled first by the Calcutta High Court and subsequently by the Supreme Court.
At the same time, the division bench observed that the Calcutta High Court had also rejected the inclusion of 74 new communities that were ordered in 2025 by the previous government, and the apex court had also given an interim stay on it. Again, in the meantime, the new state government had also withdrawn the case pending at the apex court.
In such a situation, the division bench observed. The case no longer existed. Therefore, according to the division bench, there should be no debate about the 74 communities. “If anything happens later, the court will consider it. The current public interest litigation is immature and hence, in this situation, the court will not intervene,” observed Justice Chakraborty.
Justice Mantha also observed that intervening in the public interest litigation at this junction, the bench could not go against the order passed by the court in the matter in the past. “Since the previous case was withdrawn at the apex court, the previous verdict of the Calcutta High Court also remains in effect. In such a situation, how will the court protect the rights of 74 communities?”, Justice Mantha questioned.
However, the division bench maintained that there could be a hearing on whether the new state government could change a policy decision taken by the previous government.
The division bench also observed that if in the coming days any community has any objection to the inclusion, the court's attention could be drawn.
After this, the court has ordered all the parties to file affidavits. The next hearing in the matter will be after six weeks.
Source: IANS
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