The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the implementation of reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in local body elections to be held in Madhya Pradesh.
A Bench led by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar modified the court’s May 10 order directing the State Election Commission to notify the election programme for over 20,000 urban and panchayat local bodies in the State within two weeks, without waiting for the completion of the ‘triple test’ exercise and further delimitation prior to the polls.
However, an application to modify the court order was filed shortly thereafter. It said the Backward Classes Commission had submitted a revised report which satisfied the triple test for reservation for OBCs and gave a break-up of the reservation to be provided local body-wise. Permission was sought to implement the OBC quota for the elections. It said the delimitation exercise in the State had been completed even before the May 10 order. The application asserted that these crucial facts had not been placed before the court prior to the order.
