The Supreme Court has sought a response from the state government on the decision to give OBC reservation to 77 Muslim castes in Bengal. The High Court had stayed the decision of the Mamata government, on which the state approached the Supreme Court. Now the court has asked on what basis the state government gave OBC status to 77 castes. Most of these castes follow the Muslim religion. Let us tell you that in May itself, the Calcutta High Court had declared this reservation illegal and ordered the exclusion of 77 castes from the OBC list.

During the hearing of this case, an interesting debate took place in the Supreme Court. The Bengal government’s lawyer launched a scathing attack on the High Court itself. The state government objected to the High Court’s sharp comments on the caste-wise list made for the OBC quota. Not only this, during the arguments, the Bengal government said in the Supreme Court whether the High Court itself wants to run the state. A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud heard the case. During this, Bengal government’s lawyer Indira Jaisingh said that the High Court has given the decision by going beyond its limits.

In May this year, the High Court had rejected the decision to include 77 Muslim castes in the OBC list. Along with this, the High Court had said that the Muslim community is being used as a commodity to fulfill political interests. Expressing objection to this, the lawyer of the Bengal government appealed to the Supreme Court to intervene in this. The Bengal government said, ‘Why is this happening? Because they are Muslims? They say that this is a matter of religion. Which is completely wrong. It is being said that those people were given reservation because they are Muslims. We have reports that all communities have been considered. Work has been done on the basis of the Mandal Commission’s recommendations. The government wants to run the state. But if the court wants to do this, then do it. What can we do? Please tell.

After hearing these arguments, the court agreed to hear the petition. During the hearing, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said that the castes were identified without mentioning the Bengal Backward Classes Commission. This is the argument. There are serious consequences of rejecting the Act. At present, no reservation is being implemented in Bengal. This is a difficult situation. On this, Indira Jaisingh said that the entire reservation system in the state has come to a standstill. Actually, the High Court had said in its decision that which status is to be given to which caste, it is the work of the commission. It is not the state government’s. The commission was formed in 1993 and the Act was brought by the state government in 2012. It explained how caste certificate will be obtained and what will be its basis.