West Bengal OBC case: Reservation can't be on basis of religion, says SC

Reservation cannot be on the basis of religion, the Supreme Court observed on Monday while hearing a batch of pleas challenging the Calcutta High Court verdict that struck down the OBC (Other Backward Classes) status of several castes in West Bengal granted since 2010.

The pleas, including the one filed by the West Bengal government challenging the high court's 22 May verdict, came up for hearing before a bench of justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan. "Reservation cannot be on the basis of religion," Justice Gavai observed.

Appearing for the state government, senior advocate Kapil Sibal said, "This is not on the basis of religion. This is on the basis of backwardness."

The high court had struck down the OBC status of several castes in West Bengal granted since 2010, holding as illegal the reservation for them in public sector jobs and state-run educational institutions. In its verdict, the high court said, "Religion indeed appears to have been the sole criterion for declaring these communities as OBCs."

The high court further said the "selection of 77 classes of Muslims as backwards is an affront to the Muslim community as a whole".

Deciding the petitions challenging the provisions of the state's reservation law of 2012 and reservations granted in 2010, the high court clarified that the services of citizens of the struck-down classes, who were already in service or had availed the benefit of reservation, or succeeded in any selection process of the state, would not be affected by the judgment.