Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has issued an interim stay on the preparation of a new list of Other Backward Classes (OBC) in West Bengal, halting the inclusion of additional castes in the existing state list of OBCs.
A Division Bench comprising Justices Rajasekhar Mantha and Tapabrata Chakraborty passed the order, which will remain in effect until the next hearing scheduled for July 31.
The court has also stayed the state government’s decision to open an online portal for submission of caste certificate applications, intended for the inclusion of new communities under the OBC category.
The order came in response to a petition challenging the state’s move to issue a fresh notification for the inclusion of new castes in the OBC category. The petitioner contended that applications were being invited even from communities whose OBC status had been invalidated by a previous division bench ruling.
In May 2024, the High Court had set aside all OBC certificates issued in West Bengal since 2010, citing procedural irregularities. Following this, the state government filed an appeal in the Supreme Court, asserting that a new commission had been formed to
re-evaluate the classification of OBCs. While hearing the matter, the Supreme Court had noted that reservations could not be based solely on religion and questioned the basis of the classifications made by the state.