West Bengal's affidavit in SC exposes how Muslims managed to get on OBC list
Op IndiaA major reservation row broke out in West Bengal after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s government included the Muslim community in the Other Backward Class quota without due diligence, only to cater to her party’s minority vote bank. The Khotta Muslim community applied on 13th November 2009 and they were made part of the OBC list by the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes recommended on the same day. The court also took issue with the West Bengal government-appointed Commission’s negligence in failing to execute a thorough investigation to ascertain the degree of social deprivation of the groups admitted into the OBC category. Additionally, the Calcutta High Court noted that by passing the West Bengal Backward Classes Act, 2012 and eliminating the Commission’s involvement in the process of identifying new OBCs, the West Bengal government had engaged in a “fraud on the Constitutional power of the State.” The erudite judges further emphasized how the Commission disregarded constitutional provisions in order to classify Muslims as OBCs. The 77 groups were further divided into OBC A and OBC B categories by the Mamata Banerjee government, which also passed the West Bengal Backward Classes Act, 2012.