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Maharashtra govt to issue ordinance for OBC quota in local body polls

The cabinet took the decision about making amendments in the law for OBC reservation in rural local bodies such as Zilla Parishad, Panchayat Samiti and Gram Panchayat.

The cabinet took the decision about making amendments in the law for OBC reservation in rural local bodies such as Zilla Parishad, Panchayat Samiti and Gram Panchayat. (File)The cabinet took the decision about making amendments in the law for OBC reservation in rural local bodies such as Zilla Parishad, Panchayat Samiti and Gram Panchayat. (File)

Months after the Supreme Court scrapped OBC quotas in local bodies, the Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for promulgation of an ordinance to provide for OBC quota apart from reservations for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) within the 50 per cent ceiling in local bodies.

The cabinet took the decision about making amendments in the law for OBC reservation in rural local bodies such as Zilla Parishad, Panchayat Samiti and Gram Panchayat.

A senior cabinet minister said that the decision about making a similar provision for urban local bodies such as municipal corporations and municipal councils will come in the next cabinet meeting.

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The Indian Express was the first to report on August 27 that the government had devised this reservation formula to accommodate the OBC community, and was planning to build consensus among all political parties, including the opposition BJP.

State Election Commission (SEC) sources said that the ordinance will not be applicable to the ongoing by-elections for OBC seats vacated as per the Supreme Court order in six Zilla Parishads of Dhule, Nandurbar, Akola, Washim, Nagpur and Palghar and Panchayat Samitis in their jurisdiction.

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“The decision will be applicable to all the future local bodies polls,” said a senior official from the SEC on condition of anonymity.

As per a statement from the chief minister secretariat, the amendments will be made in the Maharashtra Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti Act and in the Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act with a provision that “the OBCs will get maximum 27 per cent reservation but the total reservation of SC, ST and OBC will not exceed 50 per cent reservation ceiling”. The ordinance will be promulgated by the Rural Development Department, it said.

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Speaking to the media after the cabinet meeting, NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal said that by-elections were announced recently in some districts as per the apex court order. “So, some immediate decision needed to be taken. Two meetings were held with all political parties, including Opposition leaders Devendra Fadnavis and Pravin Darekar, and various options were discussed. In Tamil Nadu, Telangana and a few other states, they promulgated ordinances to provide reservation to OBCs within the ceiling of 50 per cent reservation and elections are being held there. We are promulgating an ordinance on the same lines,” said Bhujbal.

Bhujbal, a prominent OBC leader in the state, said that with this ordinance, the total OBC seats will be reduced by 10 to 1 per cent in the state.

“The SCs and STs get the reservation in proportion to their population. The remaining reservation, within the ceiling of 50 per cent, will be 27 per cent in some places and 20 per cent in others. In all, 10 to 12 per cent of the OBC seats will be reduced. But we have taken this step to save the remaining reservation of the OBC,” the minister said.

He added that the reservation given to the OBCs will stand in the court. “We are giving reservations below 27 per cent and without exceeding the 50 per cent ceiling. So, we request that no one should go [to court] against OBC reservation,” said Bhujbal.

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Devendra Fadnavis, Opposition leader in the Assembly, said the state government had taken a late decision but it was a welcome one. “With this, two of the three tests asked for by the SC will be fulfilled. But one more test remains, about getting a report from the state backward classes commission. Then, nobody can challenge it. I have said this in the meeting with the CM,” he said.

In its order on March 4, the SC, while reading down the OBC reservation in the local bodies, asked the state government to comply with the triple conditions — setting up a dedicated commission for empirical data of OBCs, specifying the proportion of reservation should not exceed the 50 per cent ceiling, before notifying the seats reserved for the OBC category. It had also stated that such reservation, in any case, shall not exceed the aggregate of 50 per cent of the total seats reserved in favour of SCs, STs and OBCs taken together.

OBC reservation will be a key issue in the elections to the 10 municipal corporations and 25 zilla parishads, considered a “mini assembly” in political parlance, and are likely to be held early next year.

In another decision, the state cabinet on Wednesday revised the reservation in eight Scheduled Tribe-dominated districts for direct recruitment in Class 3 and Class 4 category jobs in the districts. Earlier, due to high tribal population in these areas, the quota in jobs of ST, Vimukta Jati (VJ) and Nomadic Tribe (NT) was increased after Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) (PESA) Act came into force in 2001, while the quota for OBC was reduced. The decision on Wednesday increased the quota for OBC in jobs, without hurting reservation for ST, VJ, NT, said Vijay Watettiwar, OBC minister.

First uploaded on: 16-09-2021 at 00:29 IST
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