BHOPAL: A week after the Madhya Pradesh High Court struck down the 2019 law that raised the OBC reservation quota from 14 per cent to 27 per cent in the state, the state government filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court on Friday.
The MP CM, Dr Mohan Yadav, who met a delegation of the OBC Mahasabha (a socio-political organisation dedicated to fighting for the rights, social justice, and representation of the OBCs) on Friday, said that the state government had filed the SLP in the apex court on Friday evening.
The CM met the delegation of the OBC Mahasabha in Bhopal. The CM said that reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Madhya Pradesh was a matter of utmost importance and that the state government was committed to protecting their interests. He said the state government was making every effort to ensure a fair and legally sound resolution.
Yadav added that the state government had directed a detailed, point-by-point examination of the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s October 9, 2026, judgment on OBC reservation and instructed that the state’s case be strongly presented before the Supreme Court. Acting on these directions, the Office of the Advocate General, Madhya Pradesh, filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court on Friday evening in the case State of Madhya Pradesh vs. Ashita Dubey and Others.
During the meeting with the CM, the OBC Mahasabha warned that if concrete steps were not taken, it would submit memorandums at the divisional level on October 28 and intensify its agitation.
Meanwhile, politics continues to heat up over the issue in the state. While a delegation of the OBC Mahasabha met the MP CM, members of the Bhim Army and the Azad Samaj Party surrounded the official residences of Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state minister Krishna Gaur in Bhopal on Friday.
They demanded a special session of the State Assembly to put the higher quota into effect. They warned of a major demonstration in Bhopal on November 1, Madhya Pradesh Foundation Day, if the government did not decide quickly.
Back on October 9, while bringing to a close a nearly seven-year-long legal battle on the issue, a double-judge bench of the MP High Court in Jabalpur declared the amendment unconstitutional.
The law was introduced by the Kamal Nath-led Congress government through an ordinance in March 2019 and enacted in August 2019. The court found no exceptional circumstances to justify crossing the 50 per cent ceiling laid down in the Supreme Court’s Indra Sawhney judgment and reiterated in Jaishri Laxmanrao Patil.
The ruling has direct consequences for job seekers. New recruitment will provide 14 per cent OBC reservation, and provisional lists will no longer be drawn up on the basis of the 27 per cent quota. Appointments made under the enhanced quota between September 2, 2019, and September 29, 2022, are protected. Selections beyond the 14 per cent limit during that period will be adjusted against the next three recruitment processes.
The court also dealt with posts held back under the 87:13 formula introduced in 2022, under which 13 per cent of seats were kept on hold. These posts are to be filled by eligible unreserved-category candidates, with the MPPSC, the Employees Selection Board and other agencies directed to act within three months. The government will separately decide on the list of OBC candidates. About 9,500 posts are on hold with the ESB, and roughly 1,300 with the MPPSC.
