Odisha cabinet approves ordinance to drop OBC quota in urban polls
BHUBANESWAR: The state cabinet cleared an ordinance to amend two municipal Acts governing urban local body elections to comply with the Supreme Court’s December 17 direction of ‘triple test’ as a precondition for quota for backward class citizens (BCC).
The ordinance will amend the Odisha Municipal Act 1950 and the Odisha Municipal Corporation Act 2003 and drop BCC quota for the forthcoming elections. In September, the government had passed the Odisha Municipal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 to have BCC quota up to 27% subject to overall quota limit of 50% for all reserved categories.
Chief secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra said the ordinance to amend these Acts were necessary in view of the Supreme Court verdict on BCC quota.
The SC on December 17 has asked the solicitor general to communicate with the states to comply with the ‘triple test’ as a precondition before notifying reservation of seats for BCCs.
According to the SC, ‘triple test’ means setting up of a dedicated commission to conduct rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness, specify proportion of reservation required to be provisioned local body-wise in light of recommendations of the commission, ensure reservation shall not exceed aggregate 50% of the total seats reserved in favour of SCs/STs/OBCs taken together. No state has followed all three steps so far.
Another government official said the ordinance will mention that till the time the SC-prescribed ‘triple test’ condition is met, there would be no reservation for BCCs. The seats reserved for them will be unreserved.
Though the government has been preparing to hold panchayat election first, there was, however, no such amendment of panchayat laws.
An officer of the panchayati raj department said there is no need to amend the panchayat laws since the SC verdict is law of the land. The reservation for seats has been worked out by doing away with seats reserved for BCCs as per the SC verdict, he said.
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