Patna High Court Rejects Bihar Government’s Reservation Quota Hike To 65%. The Nitish Kumar government has suffered a major setback after the Patna high court squashed the state government’s reservation notification increasing quota for backward classes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes from 50% to 65% in government jobs and higher educational institutions in Bihar.
In November 2023, the Bihar government in the state gazette highlighted two bills, namely the Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (for SC, ST and OBC) Amendment Bill 2023 and the Bihar (in admission in educational institutions) Reservation Bill 2023) to raise the quota for deprived castes.
The Bihar government increased the quota based on the findings of the caste survey in the state – 20% for Schedule Caste (SC), 2% for Scheduled Tribe (ST), 25% for Extremely Backward Classes (EBC), and 18% for Other Backward Classes (OBC).
It based its quota hike on the Caste-based Survey 2022-23, saying in the gazette notification that it is apparent that a large section of backward classes, scheduled caste, and scheduled tribe need to be promoted so that they can catch up and satisfy the aim in the constitution of equality in opportunity and status.
Petitioners Say Bihar Government’s Reservation Amendments Are Discriminatory
The court’s latest stance comes after a batch of writ petitions challenged the constitutional validity of the increase in quota. They argued that the state government had gone beyond its legislative powers with the hike in reservation.
Moreover, the petitioners’ counsel submitted to the court that the amendments are violative of the Supreme Court verdict passed in the Indira Sawhney vs. Union of India case. The counsel highlighted that the hike was discriminatory in nature and violative of the fundamental rights to equality as guaranteed to citizens of India under Articles 14, 15 and 16.
