Lucknow: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, while giving an important decision regarding the Uttar Pradesh local body elections, said that local body elections should be held immediately without OBC reservation. After the decision of the High Court, all the seats reserved for OBCs will now be considered general.
The court's 87-page decision has given a big blow to the state government. The court has rejected the government's provisional draft order for civic elections on December 5. Along with this, the court has ordered the state government to conduct the body elections without OBC reservation.
A division bench of Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Saurabh Lavania pronounced this decision after accepting 93 petitions filed on this issue. The court said that no reservation will be given to OBCs without completing the formalities of the triple test.
The court said that since the tenure of the municipalities has either ended or is about to end, the State Government/State Election Commission will notify the elections immediately. Women's reservation will be included under the constitutional provisions in the notification to be issued for the election. The court also directed that the claim of transgenders to be included in backward classes would be looked into once the triple test commission is constituted.
The court also rejected the order issued by the government on December 12, through which the government had asked to appoint administrators in those local bodies whose tenure is going to be completed soon. It was argued on behalf of the petitioners that OBC reservation in civic elections is a kind of political reservation. It has nothing to do with social, economic or educational backwardness.
On the other hand, the state government said that reserved seats cannot be considered normal. In the reservation of seats for the elections, the related legal process including the constitutional provisions have been fully followed.
Reacting to the order, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath reiterated that the state will not hold elections without providing reservation to OBCs.
Stating that quotas will be allotted in the local bodies after holding a survey following Supreme Court guidelines, the CM added: "The election will not be held before the survey and reservation, and if need be, the state will go to the Supreme Court to challenge the Allahabad high court's order for immediate notification of elections."
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