OBC reservation in UP: Justice (Retd) Ram Avtar Singh will head the panel, which will also include two retired Indian Administrative Service officers Chaub Singh Verma and Mahendra Kumar and former legal advisors to the state Santosh Kumar Viskarma and Brajesh Kumar Soni.
According to reports, the appointment of the panel was done following the approval of the governor. The Urban Development department released a notice, stating the panel’s tenure would be for a six-month period from the day of taking charge
The panel was constituted a day after the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court directed the state administration to hold the elections for urban local bodies without making any accommodations for the OBC reservation.
The high court order came on the back of pleas challenging the preparation of the OBC reservation draft without following the triple test formula prescribed by the Supreme Court.
CM Yogi Adityanath firm on providing reservation to OBC
Following the verdict, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had asserted that elections to urban local bodies would not be held without reservation for OBCs.
The state government will set up a commission on urban body elections and provide reservations to the OBCs on the basis of the triple test, he had said.
The ‘triple test’ formula requires setting up of a commission to hold a ‘rigorous empirical inquiry’ into the nature of ‘backwardness’ in the context of the local bodies, specifying the proportion of reservation based on the commission’s recommendations, and not exceeding the overall 50 per cent quota limit.
While the court order invited flak from the state government, the opposition, including the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, attacked the Adityanath-led regime.
Meanwhile, reacting to the high court’s verdict, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya the government will study the judgment in detail, and decide on the next course of action, however, there will be no compromise on the rights of backward classes.
(With PTI inputs)
