Bengal passes OBC amendment bills, removes 77 Muslim communities from list

The West Bengal Assembly on Monday 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 Calcutta High Court in May 2024, the Hindustan Times reported.

The amendments will revise the share of the Other Backward Classes quota in the Bharatiya Janata Janata Janata Party-ruled state to 7% from 17% and reorganise the backward classes categories. A law applicable to the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes was also amended.

The West Bengal government’s earlier list of Other Backward Classes had 113 sub-groups, of which 77 were Muslim and 36 non-Muslim. The High Court had struck down the list in May 2024 and reduced OBC reservations to 7% from 17%.