PATNA: Bihar government has decided to move to the Supreme Court against Patna High Court’s order ruling that reservation of seats for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) in the state’s urban local bodies was ‘illegal’.
After the HC’s order, the State Election Commission has already cancelled the civic polls, scheduled to be held in two phases on October 10 and October 20. The commission would release fresh dates of the civic polls later. Confirming the state government’s decision to move to the apex court against Patna High Court’s order in which it declared reservations for OBCs and EBCs in the civic polls illegal, senior JD (U) minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said that the state government had been consistently working for the welfare of EBCs during the last 15 years and so in a situation, the government would ensure that their rights were protected.
“The HC’s decision, if executed, will push EBCs socially back and the state government expects that the decision of the Supreme Court will come in its favour,” he remarked. Choudhary said that provision for reservation for EBCs in the state was made in 2007 itself and since then three civic polls had been conducted following it during the last 15 years. He hoped that the SC would do justice with EBCs. JD (U) parliamentary board chairman Upendra Kushwaha also termed the HC’s decision unfortunate and said that his party would launch a movement against it. “JD(U) will launch ‘pol khol andolan’ against the union government and BJP’s conspiracy,” he said.