NEW DELHI: The state on Friday requested the SC to modify its July 28 order allowing OBC quota in polls to 271 panchayats and permit similar reservations in the elections to 92 civic councils and 4 nagar panchayats, reports Dhananjay Mahapatra.
In its July 28 order, an SC bench had accepted the July 7 report of the Dedicated Commission for Reservation for backward class citizens in local bodies and allowed the state election commission to hold elections to the remaining local bodies by giving effect to the recommendations of the panel.
New SC bench to take up state plea on OBC quota
Appearing for Maharashtra, solicitor general Tushar Mehta on Friday mentioned before a bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Huima Kohli for urgent listing of the state application to implement the OBC reservation in elections to 96 local bodies too to avoid an anomaly.
The court had, prior to July 7, directed the SEC to complete elections to local bodies where the nomination process had commenced without OBC reservation.
The court had said that where the nomination process had not commenced, the elections could be postponed to await the report of the commission.
This meant that while the OBC reservation would be implemented in elections to 271 village panchayats, 96 local bodies where the nomination process had commenced would not be able to implement the recommendation of the commission.
Since Justice Khanwilkar, the lead judge in the bench that passed the order on July 28 has since retired, the chief justice told the solicitor general that he would constitute a new bench to take up the application by Maharashtra.
The state informed the court that because of heavy rain and flood-like situations in the 96 local body jurisdictions out of 367, the entire election programme had been derailed.
Maharashtra said that even the delay had not helped the cause of the state and the benefit of the OBC reservation report had not reached the 96 local bodies.
