MVA tables OBC reservation ordinances
State officials say SC stay on both ordinances on Dec 6 does not prevent legislative procedure
MUMBAI: Weeks after the Supreme Court (SC) stayed two ordinances that permitted up to 27% reservation to Other Backward Class (OBC) candidates in rural and urban local bodies, the Maharashtra government on Wednesday tabled both ordinances on the first day of the winter session of the legislature.
A discussion on the ordinances is expected to take place in both Houses, assembly and council.
Officials of the state legal department said the government decided to table the ordinances as the SC stay did not imply that the legislative process — wherein an ordinance issued by the government has to be converted into legislation within six months before it lapsed — was stayed too.
On September 23, the state promulgated an ordinance to amend two laws — Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961 and Maharashtra Village Panchayat Act for Zilla Parishads, Panchayat Samiti and Gram Panchayats — to ensure up to 27% reservation to OBC candidates.
This was done after the top court struck down a legal provision that granted exactly 27% political reservation on the grounds that it exceeded the 50% ceiling when taken together with constitutionally guaranteed reservations to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ ST) candidates.
On October 1, the state promulgated a second ordinance to amend three other laws — the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act and Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and the Industrial Townships Act — which govern urban bodies.
Political reservation to OBC candidates in local body elections fall within the purview of five laws in Maharashtra.
On December 6, the SC stayed both ordinances and ordered the government to complete an empirical survey that would identify the extent of the OBC community’s socio-economic backwardness before assigning political reservation.
“There was no stay imposed by the apex court on the ordinances. On December 6, it stayed the elections on seats reserved for OBC category in the local bodies while on December 13, it directed the state election commission to hold elections on those seats by notifying them as general category seats,” Sachin Patel, standing counsel of the Maharashtra government in the Supreme Court, said.
However, a senior official from the law and judiciary department clarified said that there was no stay on the legislative process that required an ordinance to be tabled before the state legislature within six months of promulgation.
“Placing the ordinance before the state legislature is a legislative process. It has to be done for ordinances to be converted to legislation before they lapse. No court can impose a stay on legislative process if even it has stayed the ordinances,” he said.
Chief secretary Debashish Chakrabarty declined to comment on the matter.
Leaders from the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi parties said the coalition wanted to have a discussion on the issue on the floor of the House.