SC stays HC order on reservation for UP civic polls
What's the story
The Supreme Court (SC) stayed the Allahabad High Court's order on Wednesday to provide reservations to the Other Backward Class (OBC) in urban local body elections. The development comes after the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government moved to SC in December. As per reports, the Yogi Adityanath-led government had pushed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the apex court, opposing the Allahabad HC's order.
Context
Why does this story matter?
On December 29, the HC blocked reservations for OBCs at the urban bodies' election. The bench also asked the Election Commission to immediately issue a notification for the election. HC order had come after a plea objecting to the Uttar Pradesh government's move to release a provisional list of seats reserved for mayors of 17 municipalities, 545 nagar panchayats, and 200 municipal council chairpersons.
Report
CJI Chandrachud on reservation in local UP polls
Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud stated the state would be at liberty to release financial powers and delegation to ensure that the authority of local bodies is not impacted. Furthermore, the Solicitor General informed the court that though the term of the newly formed commission is six months, an attempt to ensure the procedure's completion would be made expeditiously before March 31.
why-does-it-matter
SC directs administrator not to take significant policy decision
The top court also said that the administrator should take no significant policy decision, reported news outlet India TV. After the HC's order, Yogi Adityanath asserted that the urban local body polls would not be held without the OBC reservation. The UP government also formed a five-member commission to provide reservations to OBC during the urban local body polls.
Info
Commission on OBC reservation formed a day after HC's order
As per reports, the commission was appointed after the governor's approval. Meanwhile, the Urban Development department also released a statement saying that the panel's tenure would be six months from the day of taking charge. The commission was constituted a day after Allahabad HC's Lucknow bench's order on the urban local body elections without making any OBC reservation.
Information
Details on UP's 5-member panel on OBC reservation
The state government picked Justice (Retd) Ram Avtar Singh to head the commission, including two retired Indian Administrative Service officers, Mahendra Kumar and Chaub Singh Verma. Furthermore, the panel also consisted of former state legal advisors Brajesh Kumar Soni and Santosh Kumar Viskarma.