RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Monday welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to stay a high court order declaring the state's 58% reservation as unconstitutional, saying that justice will be served only when the governor grants his assent to the new 76% reservation bills.
The chief minister took to Twitter after reports said the apex court had stayed a September 2022 high court decision quashing a state government order to provide a 58% quota, holding that any reservation above 50% is unconstitutional.
"However, our struggle against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s conspiracy against the youth of Chhattisgarh will continue. Justice will be served only when the governor signs the new bill. We will fight, and we will win," Baghel said.
In September 2022, the state high court had quashed a state government order to provide an overall quota of 58% - 32% for Scheduled Tribes (ST), 12% for Scheduled Castes (SC), and 14% for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
The high court decision had resulted in the state's reservation system being turned upside down, with the quota getting reversed to the level that was prevailing during undivided Madhya Pradesh - 20% for STs, 16% for SCs, and 14% for OBCs - sparking widespread protests from the tribal communities.
The state recruitment also came to a standstill, and finally, the matter went in appeal to the SC.
In the meantime, the ruling Congress took a stand that reservation must be in proportion to the population.
Subsequently, the Congress government convened a special session of the Vidhan Sabha on December 2 last year and passed bills to enhance the overall reservation to 76%.
In these bills, the government had proposed to increase the quota of STs to 32%, SCs to 13%, 27% for OBCs, and 4% for economically weaker sections.
However, these bills to date did not get the governor's assent to become law.
The previous governor, Anusuiya Uikey, raised a volley of questions from the government on various aspects of the reservation bills - leading to a confrontation with the Baghel government, which maintained that constitutionally the governor has no right to ask such questions.
Uikey, however, maintained that it was necessary to examine whether these bills would withstand judicial scrutiny once the Governor grants assent.
In the midst of the confrontation between the Raj Bhawan and the Congress government, the then governor was suddenly shifted to Manipur and veteran Biswa Bhushan Harichandan took over in February this year.
However, the bills are still pending for the governor's assent.
