Supreme Court stays Calcutta HC order blocking new OBC list in West Bengal

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed a Calcutta High Court order blocking the implementation of a West Bengal government notification classifying 140 communities as Other Backward Classes, verbally observing that it seemed to be “prima facie erroneous”, Live Law reported.

A bench of Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justices K Vinod Chandran and NV Anjaria expressed surprise at the High Court’s reasoning that only the legislature could approve the OBC list, and not the executive.

“How can the High Court stay like this?” Live Law quoted the Supreme Court as saying. “Reservation is part of the executive functions. This is the settled law... Executive instructions are enough for providing reservations and legislation is not necessary.”