The Bharatiya Janata Party government in West Bengal on Tuesday withdrew its appeal before the Supreme Court against a Calcutta High Court judgement striking down the inclusion of 77 Muslim communities from the state’s Other Backward Classes list, Live Law reported.
The appeal had been filed by the Trinamool Congress government, which lost power in the state to the BJP in the Assembly elections in May.
The State Backward Classes Commission also withdrew its separate appeal.
The Supreme Court said that while it was allowing the state to withdraw its plea, its order in the matter would not prevent other parties from challenging the High Court verdict, the legal news outlet reported.
The West Bengal government’s earlier list of Other Backward Classes had 113 sub-groups, of which 77 were Muslim and 36 non-Muslim. In May 2024, the High Court struck down the list and reduced OBC reservations to 7% from 17%.
On June 29, the West Bengal Assembly passed two bills to amend laws pertaining to Other Backward Classes reservations and remove several Muslim communities from the OBC list as directed by the High Court.
The amendments will revise the share of the Other Backward Classes quota in the state to 7% from 17% and reorganise the backward classes categories.
Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.
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