New Delhi: In a major development just a day before the scrutiny of nomination papers for Maharashtra’s upcoming civic elections, the Supreme Court on Monday firmly reiterated that total reservations for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) cannot exceed the 50% constitutional limit. The apex court also warned that it would not hesitate to stop the nomination process in constituencies where the quota ceiling is violated.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi was hearing petitions challenging the implementation of 27% OBC reservation in certain civic bodies, which allegedly pushed total reservations beyond the permissible limit. Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the petitioners, pointed out that several municipalities had continued to implement the higher quota despite the Supreme Court’s earlier directions.
The court had, in its May 6 order, instructed the Maharashtra Election Commission to adhere to the pre-Banthia Commission reservation structure until the state completed the mandated data collection and justification exercise. Since the recommendations of the Banthia Commission (submitted in July 2022) have not been fully operationalised by the state government, the bench clarified that local body elections — covering 409 urban and over 28,000 rural civic bodies — must follow the reservation system that existed prior to July 2010.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and senior advocate Shekhar Naphade urged the court to consider the advanced stage of the election process, pointing out that scrutiny begins Tuesday. However, the bench remained unmoved, cautioning Mehta: “Do not exceed the 50% limit. We have not permitted this. We never allowed reserved seats to exceed 50% of the total.”
The court agreed to adjourn the matter for further hearing on Wednesday but issued a stern warning: the election process will be stalled wherever the total reserved seats surpass the cap.
