Supreme Court Issues Notice To Centre, Bihar On RJD Plea Against Patna HC Order Quashing Law Hiking Reservation Limit To 65 Per Cent

The Supreme Court on Friday (6 September) issued notices to the Centre and Bihar government on a petition challenging the Patna High Court’s order striking down a hike in reservation in Bihar to 65 per cent.

However, the apex Court has not imposed a stay on the Bihar HC order.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Bihar’s main opposition party, has approached the Supreme Court against the Bihar High Court's verdict on the increased reservation, legislation for which was passed after a caste survey last year.

Reacting to the developments in the SC, the RJD said it will continue to fight for reservation and the "rights of the deprived".

"Supreme Court issues notice on RJD's petition against Patna HC order quashing Bihar Reservation Amendment Act. RJD will keep fighting for the reservation and rights of the deprived and the neglected on the streets, in the House and in the courts," the party wrote in Hindi in a post on X while also hitting out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the BJP.

The reservation percentage was raised from 50 per cent to 65 per cent for Backward Classes, Extremely Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes (SCs), and Scheduled Tribes (STs) through amendments to the state’s reservation laws.

The bills proposing the amendments were passed unanimously by both the Bihar Assembly and the legislative council, with the increased quota meant to apply to educational institutions as well as government jobs in the state.

Petitioners had challenged the constitutional validity of the amendments, leading to the Bihar High Court's 20 June ruling, which declared the changes as "ultra vires" of the Constitution, "bad in law," and "violative of the equality clause."

The bench stated there was "no extenuating circumstance enabling the state to breach" the 50 per cent cap on reservations laid down by the Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney case of 1992.

The Bihar government had also appealed the High Court order in the Supreme Court, but a bench in July refused to impose a stay on the ruling.

On Friday, a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, issued notices to the Bihar government and the Centre and tagged the RJD's petition with the pending appeal of the state government.

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