Maharashtra cabinet gives nod for making changes in draft ordinance over OBC quota in local body polls

The state government had earlier sent the draft ordinance to the governor for his approval.

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray

The Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday cleared a proposal that seeks to make modifications in the ordinance to restore reservation to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in local bodies, after state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari raised a query about its validity. The cabinet gave its approval during its meeting, a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.

The state government had earlier sent the draft ordinance to Koshyari for his approval. However, he returned it to the administration on Wednesday with his query. The Supreme Court in March this year had read down the OBC quota in some local governing bodies in the state citing non-availability of empirical data to substantiate the reservation percentage. The apex court had observed that total reservation should not exceed 50 per cent.

OBCs used to get up to 27 per cent reservation in electoral wards of municipal bodies and zilla parishads (district councils).

The Maharashtra government's decision to issue an ordinance offering electoral quota to the OBCs was found to be legally inadequate as the state law and judiciary department has advised it to seek permission from the Supreme Court as the matter is sub-judice. Following a query over this by the governor, the state cabinet cleared the proposal to rectify the order and draft a fresh ordinance.

In order to make necessary changes in the draft ordinance, the cabinet also cleared the proposal of allotting up to 27 per cent reservation in the local body polls to the OBC community. According to this proposal, the reservation would not cross the 50 per cent limit. Similar decision would be taken by the rural development department as well to allot reservation for OBCs in village governing body and Zilla Parishad (ZP) polls.

Last week, the state government had announced that it would bring an ordinance to grant OBC quota in upcoming by-elections to a set of local governing bodies without crossing the Supreme Court-mandated 50 per cent cap on reservation.

A couple of days before that, the State Election Commission (SEC) announced that by-elections to six ZPs and panchayat samitis under them for seats which have fallen vacant after the Supreme Court's OBC quota ruling will be held on October 5.

By-elections will be held for 85 wards in ZPs and 144 seats in panchayat samitis falling under their (ZP's) jurisdiction. The bypoll-bound ZPs are of Dhule, Nandurbar, Akola, Washim, Nagpur and Palghar and panchayat samitis coming under their jurisdiction.

In the first week of September, an all-party meeting convened by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray unanimously decided that local body polls be postponed till the state backward class commission compiles empirical data giving a clear picture on political backwardness of OBCs.