SC refuses to stay Patna HC order scrapping Bihar govt’s quota hike to 65% in jobs, education

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the Patna High Court order quashing the state government’s amendments extending reservations to backward classes, extremely backward classes, scheduled tribes and scheduled castes in jobs and educational institutions.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud listed the matter for September for detailed hearing. Besides CJI, the bench also included Justices JB Pardiwla and Manoj Misra.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has made it clear that it will not stay the Patna High Court’s order.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan, representing the Bihar government, moved the Supreme Court to stay the Patna High Court’s order citing a similar case in Chhattisgarh where the Supreme Court had stayed the decision of the HC concerned in that case. But the Supreme Court did not agree to stay the Patna High Court’s order.

The appeal was filed by the Bihar government through the state’s standing counsel Manish Kumar.

Senior Advocate Aparajita Singh represented the respondent Youth for Equality. On behalf of All India Backward Classes Federation, Senior Advocate V Eshwaraia, Advocate Rajan Raj and Advocate Mohini Priya appeared in the case.

The Patna High Court in June set aside the Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (Amendment) Act, 2023 and the Bihar (In admission in Educational Institutions) Reservation (Amendment) Act, 2023 on the grounds that the Act was beyond its powers and violated the equality clauses in Articles 14, 15 and 16.

The Bihar legislature amended both the laws in 2023, increasing reservation from 50 percent to 65 percent in jobs and higher educational institutions.

Based on the findings of the caste survey in the state, the state government increased the quota for SC to 20 percent, Scheduled Tribes to 2 percent, Extremely Backward Classes to 25 percent and Backward Class to 18 percent.

It is notable that Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United was at that time part of the Mahagathbandhan, which also included Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress Party.