MP High Court stays 27% OBC reservation for hiring teachers

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday stayed the state government’s order on 27% reservation for other backward classes (OBC) and 10% for economically weaker section for hiring higher secondary school teachers, an lawyer who participated in the hearing said.

A division bench of Chief Justice Ravi Vijay Kumar Malimath and Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla stayed the final list of selected teachers which was released by the commissioner of the directorate of Public Instruction (DPI) by implementing 27% OBC reservation and 10% EWS reservation last week.

The court also sought a reply from the state government on crossing the 50% reservation limitation imposed by the Supreme Court. As of now, the reservation in Madhya Pradesh is 73%.

In a contempt petition filed by Prabal Pratap Singh and 11 others, it was said that the High Court had stayed the implementation of 27 per cent OBC reservation in the state in half a dozen petitions.

“Earlier rejecting the application of revoking stay on implementation of 27% OBC reservation, the High Court has fixed the final date of hearing on December 6. Despite this, 27 OBC reservations and 10 per cent EWS reservations have been implemented by the state government to fill the posts of higher secondary teachers,” said Aditya Sanghi, an advocate of the petitioner.

“The General Administration Department had issued a circular citing the opinion of the advocate General that 27 per cent OBC reservation can be implemented in other departments other than the cases in which the High Court has put a stay. On the basis of this circular, the Public Instruction Commissioner has issued the final list of selected teachers,” said Sanghi.

There is a clear order of the Supreme Court that the reservation should not exceed 50%. Due to the implementation of OBC reservation of 27 per cent and EWS reservation of 10 per cent, the total reservation exceeds to 73%. Apart from this, there is no constitutional provision for caste-based reservation, Sanghi said.

Additional advocate general RK Verma said, “After hearing the petition, the double bench issued notice to the state government and sought reply by December 6.”