“Reservation cannot be given on the basis of religion”, in which case did the Supreme Court remark?

While hearing the petition of the West Bengal government on Monday, the Supreme Court said that reservation cannot be given based on religion. The West Bengal government had approached the Supreme Court regarding the decision to give reservation to 77 castes of the state under OBC. Most of these 77 castes are from the Muslim community. The West Bengal government had challenged the decision of the Calcutta High Court, in which giving reservation to these castes under OBC was declared illegal. 

Hearing the petition of the West Bengal government, a bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Vishwanathan made it clear that reservation can be given only on the basis of social and economic backwardness, not on the basis of religion. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state government, said that this reservation has been given not on the basis of religion, but on the basis of backwardness.

The High Court had declared it illegal.

On May 22, the High Court canceled the provisions of OBC reservation in West Bengal, which was implemented in 2010, saying that OBC status was given only on religious grounds, which is not ibythe Constitution. At the same time, the High Court also declared the reservation law made by the state in 2012 illegal. After this decision, the decision to give reservations under OBC to 77 Muslim castes in West Bengal was canceled. However, the rights of those who had already availed of reservation in government jobs or educational institutions will not be affected.

The next hearing will be on January 7

The next hearing of the case will now be held on January 7. Sibal had appealed to the court to issue an interim order so that the High Court order could be stayed with immediate effect, which could affect the rights of thousands of students and job seekers.