Supreme Court refuses to stay Patna HC's order against increased reservation for SC/ST, backward classes in Bihar

The Supreme Court (SC) has refused to stay the Patna High Court's order that set aside the increase in reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/STs), Backward Classes, and Extremely Backward Classes in Bihar from 50 per cent to 65 per cent in public employment and educational institutions, Bar and Bench reported on Monday. 

Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the State of Bihar, said he was seeking protection like in the Chattisgarh case. However, the bench said it was not inclined to stay at this stage. Divan pleaded for a notice of interim relief then. The CJI rejected the request and said the court would list the case in September. "No interim relief."

Last month, the Patna High Court set aside the amended reservation laws in Bihar, which hiked quotas for Dalits, tribals and backward classes from 50 per cent to 65 per cent. A division bench comprising Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Harish Kumar declared the amendments as "ultra vires" of the Constitution, "bad in law" and "violative of the equality clause".

The court also allowed a bunch of petitions challenging the Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes) Act, 2023, and the Bihar Reservation (in admission to educational institutions) Amendment Act, 2023, while "leaving the parties to suffer their respective costs".

In the detailed order running into 87 pages, the court said it saw "no extenuating circumstance enabling the state to breach" the 50 per cent cap on reservations laid down by the apex court in the famous Indra Sawhney case. "The state proceeded on the mere proportion of the population of different categories as against their numerical representation in government services and educational institutions," the bench pointed out.

The amendments had followed a caste survey, which put the percentage of Other Backward Classes and Extremely Backward Classes at a staggering 63 per cent of the state’s total population, while SCs and STs were stated to have accounted for more than 21 per cent. 

The exercise was undertaken by the state government after the Centre expressed its inability to undertake a fresh headcount of castes other than SCs and STs, which was last held as part of the 1931 Census. After the quotas were hiked, reserved seats in the state, including those for the economically weaker sections, came to be 75 per cent of the total.