Summary
The Supreme Court read down Maharashtra’s local-body OBC reservation provision as enabling reservation up to 27%, subject to a dedicated empirical inquiry, local-body-specific recommendations and the aggregate 50% vertical-reservation limit. Because these prerequisites had not been met, the challenged OBC-seat notifications and consequential election results were invalidated. The affected seats were to be filled by open-category elections for the remaining term. Earlier acts of the local bodies were protected under Article 142.
Issues
- What prerequisites govern OBC reservation in local bodies.
- Whether the statutory 27% requirement and challenged election notifications could stand.
- What consequences followed for completed elections and earlier local-body decisions.
Provisions considered
- Section 12(2)(c), Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961Read down as enabling up to 27% OBC reservation only after satisfying the triple test and aggregate ceiling. (¶¶ 3, 12-18, 25, 28)
- Article 142, Constitution of IndiaEarlier acts and decisions of the local bodies were protected despite the affected members vacating their seats prospectively. (¶ 26)
Held
- The triple test required a dedicated commission’s rigorous contemporary inquiry into backwardness in local bodies, specification of reservation local-body-wise on its recommendations, and compliance with the aggregate fifty per cent SC/ST/OBC ceiling. Educational or employment backwardness did not automatically establish political backwardness. (¶¶ 5-8, 12)
- The rigid statutory percentage was saved by reading shall be as may be, up to twenty-seven per cent within the aggregate ceiling. Scheduled-Area considerations safeguarding ST representation did not justify excess OBC reservation. (¶¶ 6-7, 13-18, 28)
- Failure even to establish the required commission vitiated the OBC reservations. The notifications and resultant OBC-seat elections covered by the challenge were set aside; elections to the vacated seats as open seats were to be announced within two weeks for the remainder term. (¶¶ 19, 25, 27-28)
- The members were deemed to vacate prospectively upon judgment, and previous acts and decisions of the concerned local bodies remained unaffected. (¶¶ 26, 28)
Result
Writ petitions partly succeed: statutory provision read down, challenged OBC reservations and consequential results invalidated, with open-seat election directions and protection of earlier local-body acts. No costs.