Supreme Court Seeks Madhya Pradesh Reply On 27% OBC Quota Implementation

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Madhya Pradesh government to file reply by July 4 on a petition seeking implementation of 27 per cent Other Backwards Classes (OBC) quota in the state.

The petition moved by members of the OBC community in the state seeks implementation of a law passed by the Madhya Pradesh Assembly in 2019, which increased the OBC quota from 14% to 27%.

The plea states the state government has been denying benefit of increased quota for the OBCs based on the stay given to an MBBS student for a postgraduate medical entrance test by the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The implementation of 27% reservations in public employment and educational institutions for OBCs is a key issue of contention in the state, which has nearly 50% of its population belonging to the OBC category.

Earlier, the Congress had accused the BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government of deliberately not implementing the law (which increased OBC quota from 14 to 27%) passed by the Congress government in 2019. However, the BJP govt has cited "legal hurdle" to implementation as the increased quota breaches the total 50% reservations limit in the state.

An ordinance was brought by the erstwhile Congress government on March 8, 2019, seeking to increase the OBC quota in jobs and admissions in educational institutions to 27 per cent from 14 per cent.

However, the same was challenged by the MBBS student.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court stayed the implementation of the ordinance for the entrance test of the postgraduate medical exam.

However, in July 2019, the state assembly passed legislation to replace the ordinance, which increased the reservations to 27 per cent.

The petition, moved by members of the OBC community in the state, claims that despite Madhya Pradesh having a 50% OBC population, the reservation quota remains only 14%.

The plea further says that the Madhya Pradesh government arbitrarily failed to implement the Act to extend the benefit of the said amendment in nearly all recruitment processes.

Before 2019, Madhya Pradesh had 14 per cent reservation for the OBC, 20 per cent for ST, and 16 per cent for SC, totalling 50 per cent.

The enhanced OBC quota has raised total reservation to 63 per cent, breaching the 50 per cent quota ceiling.

On March 19, 2019, the High Court stayed the increased 13 per cent more OBC reservation, which led to the suspension of many recruitment processes.

Later, a formula which included 87 per cent existing reservations plus 13 per cent reserved was introduced to continue exams while holding the disputed 13 per cent seats separately until a final verdict.

In 2024, all pending petitions regarding OBC reservation hike (around 70 in total) were transferred from the High Court to the Supreme Court. Till the final decision is made, recruitments are continuing based on the 87:13 formula.