We will conduct fresh survey to identify OBCs, West Bengal tells Supreme Court

The West Bengal government on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that it will conduct a fresh survey to identify Other Backward Classes in the state, reported Live Law.

The exercise would be completed within three months, the state government told a bench of Justices BR Gavai and AG Masih.

The bench was hearing a petition by the state’s Trinamool Congress government against an order of the Calcutta High Court quashing the classification of 77 communities, a majority of them Muslim, under the Other Backward Classes category.

In May, the High Court cancelled all Other Backward Classes certificates issued in West Bengal after 2010, saying that “religion indeed appears to have been the sole criterion” for granting the status to the 77 communities.

Kapil Sibal, appearing for the West Bengal government, told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the state Commission for Backward Classes has informed the state administration that it would “conduct the benchmark survey on communities who have applied to the commission for inclusion” in the state’s OBC list.

The bench will hear the matter next in July.

“Needless to say, the said exercise would be without prejudice to the rights of either of the parties,” said the bench.

The High Court’s decision in May was expected to affect nearly five lakh certificates.

The High Court’s division bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Rajasekhar...

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