The Supreme Court on Tuesday mandated the states to follow the triple test it laid down last year for the reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBC) in local bodies. The test involves the appointment of panels, gathering empirical data quantifying the extent and backwardness local body-wise, and ensuring the quota does not exceed the 50% ceiling.
The order came in response to a petition over 23,000 unfilled panchayat seats in Madhya Pradesh. The seats remained vacant as the state could not fulfil the test. In December, the court directed the State Election Commission to re-notify OBC seats in local bodies as general seats and conduct elections. This prompted the state to legislate to take over the function of delimitation from the poll watchdog. Later, the state government cancelled the elections.
A bench of justices AM Khanwilkar, AS Oka, and CT Ravikumar took serious exception over the vacant 321 urban bodies and about 23,260 panchayat seats. It said such conduct is “bordering on the breakdown of the rule of law”.
The court directed the poll watchdog to notify the elections within two weeks. It made it clear that neither delimitation nor triple test compliance can delay the filling up of the vacant seats. The court said the seats must be represented by elected representatives after every five years as per the constitutional requirement.
