West Bengal Withdraws Supreme Court Appeal Against Calcutta High Court Verdict on OBC Status of 77 Communities
In a significant legal and political development, the West Bengal Government has withdrawn its appeal before the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court’s 2024 judgment that invalidated the inclusion of 77 communities, including 75 Muslim communities, in the State’s Other Backward Classes (OBC) list. The decision was conveyed to a Bench led by the Chief Justice of India, which permitted the withdrawal of the petition.
The Calcutta High Court had struck down the State’s decision to grant OBC status to these communities, holding that the process adopted by the then government did not satisfy constitutional and statutory requirements for identifying socially and educationally backward classes. The High Court also quashed OBC certificates issued pursuant to the impugned notifications, while protecting benefits already availed by existing beneficiaries.
The appeal before the Supreme Court had originally been filed by the previous state administration. Following the change in government, the State decided not to pursue the challenge any further and formally sought permission to withdraw its petition. The State Backward Classes Commission also withdrew its separate appeal arising from the same High Court judgment.
Although the State has exited the litigation, the legal battle is not yet over. The Supreme Court has allowed other affected parties and intervenors to continue pursuing challenges against the Calcutta High Court’s verdict. As a result, the constitutional questions surrounding the validity of the OBC classification and the methodology adopted for granting reservation benefits are likely to remain under judicial consideration.
The withdrawal marks a major policy shift in West Bengal’s approach to the contentious OBC reservation issue. It also reinforces the immediate effect of the Calcutta High Court’s ruling, unless modified or set aside in proceedings initiated by the remaining appellants. The outcome of those pending challenges could have significant implications for reservation policy, backward class identification, and the rights of affected communities in the State.
