Madhya Pradesh minister Prahlad Patel on Friday blamed the Congress for the High Court striking down the 2019 law that raised reservation for Other Backward Classes to 27 per cent in the state. He said the law, brought by the then Kamal Nath government, had constitutional flaws and has now been set aside by the court, restoring the quota to 14 per cent.
Patel, the state Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Minister, said the BJP has always supported backward classes and that the Mohan Yadav government will move the Supreme Court. He said an all-party meeting was held on the issue and the state’s position was presented in court with everyone’s consent.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Friday struck down the 2019 law enacted by the Kamal Nath-led Congress government, calling the move unconstitutional. In its 159-page order, a division bench of Justices Anand Pathak and Vinay Saraf also directed the state’s recruitment agencies to fill 13 per cent of posts that had been kept on hold after the legal challenge to the quota hike law from the unreserved category within three months.
“We have always supported backward classes. Be it the issue of OBC reservation or granting constitutional status to the Backward Classes Commission, the BJP has undertaken this task with full responsibility,” Patel said in a statement. Referring to the current government’s stand, he said Chief Minister Mohan Yadav had convened an all-party meeting on the issue and, with everyone’s consent, the position was presented in court.
Patel alleged that the Congress was not a well-wisher of any class and was only interested in its political interests. “It is true that the Congress has no love for any class; it only cares about its political interests,” he said. He claimed the court had observed that the then Congress government brought the ordinance for political gains and in a hurry, with constitutional errors that could not be accepted.
He also said people in the state, especially the youth, should understand that the then government ignored constitutional provisions. According to Patel, the Kamal Nath government did not present any concrete reason for exceeding the 50 per cent reservation limit. “My question to the Congress is: We fought this battle alongside you, but why did you never discuss those constitutional limitations?” he said.
Patel further alleged that although the Backward Classes Commission had by then been granted constitutional status, the Kamal Nath government did not seek the Commission’s consent. “This negligence by the government led to this situation today,” he said. He added that the Madhya Pradesh government would take the necessary steps to address any challenges that may arise and would strongly present its case in the Supreme Court. “Our government has presented its case in court with full accountability in the past and will continue to fight this battle with responsibility,” he said.
Patel also accused the Congress of practising propaganda politics and said it ignored the constitutional limit of 50 per cent reservation while hastily passing the ordinance for electoral gains. The High Court’s ruling has now set aside that law, restored the OBC quota to 14 per cent and directed recruitment agencies to fill the withheld posts from the unreserved category within three months.
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