New Delhi:

The Bihar government has moved the Supreme Court challenging a Patna High Court verdict that has set aside the amended reservation laws in the state, which enabled the Nitish Kumar government to increase the quotas for Dalits, tribals and backward classes from 50 per cent to 65 per cent.

In its June 20 verdict, the high court declared that the amendments, passed unanimously by the state’s bicameral legislature in November last year, were “ultra vires” of the Constitution, “bad in law” and “violative of the equality clause”.

The state’s plea has been filed in the top court through advocate Manish Kumar.

A division bench of the high court had allowed a bunch of petitions challenging the Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) (Amendment) Act, 2023 and the Bihar (In Admission in Educational Institutions) Reservation (Amendment) Act, 2023, while “leaving the parties to suffer their respective costs”.

In a detailed order running into 87 pages, the high court made it clear that it saw “no extenuating circumstance enabling the state to breach” the 50-per cent cap on reservations laid down by the Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney case.

“The state proceeded on the mere proportion of population of different categories as against their numerical representation in government services and educational institutions,” the high court pointed out.

The amendments had followed a caste survey, which put the percentage of Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) at a staggering 63 per cent of the state’s total population, while the SCs and STs were stated to have accounted for more than 21 per cent.

The exercise was undertaken by the Bihar government after the Centre expressed its inability to carry out a fresh headcount of castes other than the SCs and STs, which was last held as part of the 1931 Census. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

In a big setback to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the Patna High Court today struck down the 65 per cent reservation in government jobs and education that was introduced last year after a statewide caste survey. The state government’s move had taken the reservation in Bihar past the 50 per cent cap mandated by the Supreme Court.

The order was passed by a division bench headed by Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran on petitions opposing the legislation brought by the Nitish Kumar government in November 2023. Mr Kumar’s JDU was then allied to the RJD and the Congress. A month later, he switched to the BJP and became Chief Minister again. 

Ritika Rani, one of the counsels appearing for the petitioners, told news agency PTI, “We had submitted that the amendments to the reservation laws were violative of the Constitution. After hearing both sides, the court had reserved its judgement in March. Today, the final order has come.”

In November last year, days after the Bihar Assembly unanimously passed the reservation Bill, the Nitish Kumar government had issued gazette notifications for raising the quota for deprived castes from 50 to 65 per cent in state government jobs and educational institutions.

Senior JDU leader and minister Ashok Choudhary said the state government will study the judgment and challenge it in the Supreme Court. 

Responding to the high court ruling, RJD’s Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha said it is an “unfortunate” development. “Such rulings prolong the journey towards the destination of social justice. We remember Tamil Nadu had to struggle for many years, we will do the same. But we must see what is the social background of these petitioners, who is controlling them from behind the curtains. We saw the same thing during the caste survey,” he said.

The RJD leader stressed the party’s demand to put reservation under the ninth schedule of the Constitution to shield it from court orders. “The NDA government is in power now, courtesy Nitish Kumar. He should go to the higher court and secure the rights of a big population.”

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Tuesday recommended the names of seven judicial officers for appointment as judges of the Patna and Madhya Pradesh High Courts.

The collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sanjiv Khanna, named judicial officers Rudra Prakash Mishra and Ramesh Chand Malviya as judges of the Patna High Court.

“On May 8, 2023, the Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature at Patna in consultation with his two senior-most colleagues recommended the elevation of the above judicial officers as Judges of the High Court of Judicature at Patna.

“The Chief Minister and the Governor of the State of Bihar have concurred with the recommendation. In order to ascertain the fitness and suitability of the above persons for elevation to the High Court, we have consulted Judges of the Supreme Court who are conversant with the affairs of the High Court of Judicature at Patna,” the collegium said.

For the purpose of assessing the merit and suitability of the candidates for elevation to the high court, the collegium scrutinised and evaluated the material placed on record including the observations made by the Department of Justice in the file as well as the complaints received against the candidates.

In another decision, the collegium recommended the names of judicial officers Rajendra Kumar Vani, Pramod Kumar Agrawal, Binod Kumar Dwivedi, Devnarayan Mishra and Gajendra Singh as judges of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

“On May 11, 2023 and August 9, 2023, the Chief Justice of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh in consultation with his two senior-most colleagues made the above recommendation.

“The Chief Minister and the Governor of the State of Madhya Pradesh have concurred with the recommendations. In order to ascertain the fitness and suitability of the above persons for elevation to the High Court, we have consulted our colleague conversant with the affairs of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh,” the collegium said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)