The Calcutta High Court has cancelled all certificates to Other Backward Classes issued in Bengal since 2011 under the Trinamool Congress administration, calling them “illegal”. This, however, would not affect the jobs held currently by the people, the court said. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said she “will not accept” the order, which takes away the rights granted to the Tapashili community.
The court struck down reservation for several communities as Other Backward Classes under a new law of the state government passed in 2012.
Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Rajasekhar Mantha, however, said the executive orders of the state government classifying 66 classes of OBC before 2010 were not interfered with, since these were not challenged in the petitions.
“The OBC reservation quota introduced by the West Bengal government will continue. We had drafted the Bill after conducting a house-to-house survey, and it was passed by the cabinet and the assembly,” Ms Banerjee was quoted as saying by news agency Press Trust of India.
“The BJP has conspired to stall it by using central agencies. How can the party show such audacity?” she added.
Senior party leader and Ms Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee alleged the court’s judgment is part of the BJP’s efforts to cancel reservation for the Tapashili community.
“One judge is saying, ‘I am an RSS person’, another one joins the BJP… Modi wants to cancel reservation for Tapashilis. I won’t allow that. He wants to take away rights of Adivasis,” he said.
