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SC stays U.P. order on jobs for MBCs
By Our Legal Correspondent
NEW DELHI, JAN. 21. Observing that ``the entire exercise seems to be done in a hurry'', the Supreme Court today stayed all future appointments of persons belonging to the `most backward classes' (MBC) under a law enacted by the Uttar Pradesh Government.
A three-Judge Bench, comprising the Chief Justice, S.P. Bharucha, Justice Shivaraj V. Patil and Justice B.P. Singh, granted the interim stay on a batch of public interest petitions challenging the controversial legislation passed by the State Government and the setting up of a Social Justice Committee through a notification.
When the Attorney-General, Soli Sorabjee, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh Government, wanted to know whether the stay would apply for appointments under the new Act or the parent Act, the Bench said, ``Our order is very clear. All appointments will be stopped and there should be no transgression of it.''
The petitioners submitted that the Rajnath Singh Government had, on June 28 last, issued a notification constituting the Committee for making recommendations for reforms in connection with proper representation and to look into the overall conditions of the scheduled castes (SCs), the scheduled tribes (STs) and other backward classes (OBCs) in the State.
They contended that the State Government had enacted the law with an eye on the coming Assembly elections and had no constitutional power to set up such a Committee. The Committee submitted its report on August 31, 2001 following which the Uttar Pradesh Public Service (Reservation to the SCs, the STs and the OBCs amendment) Ordinance, 2001 was promulgated by the Governor.
This was replaced by an Act passed by the State Government on October 6 last. The petitioners sought quashing of the notification constituting the Committee and also challenged the validity of the Act. They alleged that the State Government was on the verge of making 20,000 appointments under the new law.
They submitted that the legislation sought to categorise backward castes in three categories - backward, more backward and most backward - and the SCs and the STs in `A' and `B' categories, contrary to the constitutional provisions. They sought a declaration that the Act was ``ultra vires'' the Constitution as it was enacted by the BJP-led Government in the State to get ``political mileage'' during the Assembly polls.
It remains to be seen what effect the Supreme Court order has on the electoral hopes of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which tried to wean the most backward castes away from its rival, the Samajwadi Party, by creating a separate quota for them within the reservation for backward castes.
In fact, the Rajnath Singh Government, which promised to fill at least 40,000 jobs with MBC recruits before the start of the election process, will clearly be unable to deliver as a result of the SC order.
At the BJP's central party office here, leaders were unwilling to comment on the SC order, but insisted that all was not lost as a large number of MBCs had been given ticket to contest the elections on the BJP symbol.
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