MADURAI: Holding that OBC status is not eternal and inclusion or retention of entities in the OBC list has to be constitutionally justified, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court has issued notice to the state government on a petition which challenged certain entries in Schedule-I of the Tamil Nadu Government Servants (Conditions of Service) Act, 2016, which permitted persons who converted to Christianity to retain their OBC status.
The petitioner, G Kodeeswaran of Madurai, who hailed from Kallar community which is a notified Backward Class, recently applied for the Combined Civil Services Examination IV (Group IV Services).
He claimed that the reservation pool meant for genuinely backward classes is being unconstitutionally diluted by the inclusion of various Christian denominations and converts, who have never been subjected to any empirical test of social and educational backwardness as mandated by Article 16(4) of the Constitution of India.
The petitioner challenged specific entries in Schedule I of the Act, namely entries 17, 18, 66, 67, 78 (insofar as it includes Christian Nadar, Christian Shanar, and Christian Gramani), and 138 of Part A (List of Backward Classes), alongside entries 20, 31, 32, and 33 of Part C (List of Most Backward Classes).
These entries collectively confer Backward Class or Most Backward Class status on various Christian communities and converts to Christianity, he claimed.
The state had made such inclusions in the 1980s, despite the contrary opinions expressed by expert bodies, such as the First and Second Backward Classes Commissions, he added.
Satisfied that the petitioner has established a prima facie case that warrants deep constitutional scrutiny, a bench of justices GR Swaminathan and MD Sumathi said the petition reveals some deeply unsettling anomalies and raises serious doubts about the constitutional validity of the impugned entries in Schedule-I of the Tamil Nadu Government Servants (Conditions of Service) Act.
They issued notice to the state and adjourned the case by two months.
