HC stays M.P. govt.’s 27% OBC quota ordinance

Quota cap breached, said petition

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday, in an interim order, stayed the State government’s ordinance increasing reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) category to 27% from the earlier 14%.

The Congress government in the State had issued an ordinance on March 8 increasing the reservation in the OBC category to 27%.

A Division Bench of Justices R.S. Jha and Sanjay Dwivedi on Tuesday stayed the State government ordinance which increased the percentage of reservation for OBCs.

Petitioners Ashita Dubey, Richa Pandey and Suman, all MBBS students who had appeared for NEET 2019 for admissions to postgraduate medical courses, had challenged the State government’s ordinance on grounds that it violated provisions of Article 16(4) of the Constitution, their counsel Aditya Sanghi said.

The government’s quota move had led to reservation in the State reaching 63%, a breach of the 50% cap on reservation, the counsel said.

‘No quota above 14%’

It is directed that the respondents shall not provide reservation of more than 14% for the OBC category in admission made to colleges on the strength of the ordinance which is a subject matter of this petition, the court said.

The court has sought replies within two weeks from the State director for medical education and the principal secretary of the medical education department.