MP High Court Rejects 27% OBC Quota, Upholds 14% Reservation; Orders Recruitment Against 13% Withheld Posts In 3 Months

The Madhya Pradesh High Court ruling on Friday dismissed the request for a 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) and upheld the current 14% quota, capping overall reservation at 50% in the state. The decision, issued by a division bench with Justices Anand Pathak and Vinay Sharaf, came after hearing petitions that challenged the proposed increase in OBC reservation.

The court found no exceptional circumstances in Madhya Pradesh justifying a reservation exceeding the 50% threshold. Additionally, the High Court ordered recruitment agencies, including the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission (MPPSC) and Madhya Pradesh Employees Selection Board, to fill vacancies for unreserved category candidates against the 13% withheld posts within three months.

Appointments made before September 29, 2022, will remain valid, but those made afterward exceeding the 14% reservation limit will be deemed null and void. The controversy surrounding the OBC reservation dates back to 2018 when the Congress government led by Chief Minister Kamal Nath announced the increase to 27%. This proposal, approved by the cabinet and later ratified by the Governor, sparked multiple petitions from both ruling and opposition parties.

These petitions reached the Supreme Court, which subsequently remanded the case to the High Court for adjudication. The High Court dismissed all petitions, ruling that no extraordinary circumstances warranted surpassing the 50% reservation ceiling. The state's reliance on a 40-year-old report of 1983, which deemed OBCs not socially and educationally backward, was cited by the court.

Despite this, OBC representation in Central government services has risen from 17.74% in 2014-15 to 21.98% in 2022-23, with four Chief Ministers and 40% of ministers in the state Cabinet belonging to the OBC category over the past 20 years.