New Delhi, March 27 (). The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Uttar Pradesh government to issue notification for conducting urban local body elections after noting that a dedicated commission set up to look into the issue of OBC reservation has submitted its final report.
Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said that the Uttar Pradesh government has issued a notification for the UP Backward Classes Commission based on the previous order of the court.
Justice P.S. A bench of Narasimha and JB Padirwala said that the tenure of the commission was six months, it was to complete its work by March 31, 2023, while Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that the report is to be submitted on March 9.
The bench said that the notification for the local body elections will be issued in two days.
The top court while disposing of the matter made it clear that the directions of its order are not to be used as precedents.
The top court had in January this year stayed the Allahabad High Court’s direction to the Uttar Pradesh Election Commission to go ahead with the urban local body elections without providing reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
The Uttar Pradesh government had then argued before the court that it had already constituted a dedicated commission to collect data for representation of OBCs.
In December last year, the high court had passed an order on petitions challenging the drafting of the OBC reservation without following the triple test formula laid down by the Supreme Court.
The apex court in May last year in K.K. Krishna Murthy (Dr.) & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors. (2010) referred to a Constitution Bench judgment which held that the triple test conditions must first be met for OBC reservation.
Earlier in March this year, Justice (retd) Ram Avtar Singh, who headed the commission, and four other members retired IAS officers Chob Singh Verma, Mahender Kumar and former additional legal advisors Santosh Kumar Vishwakarma and Brajesh Kumar Soni had met. The Chief Minister visited Urban Development Minister A.K. Sharma and submitted the report in the presence of officials of the Urban Development Department.
SGK/ANM
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