StatesMadhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh High Court strikes down 27% OBC quota, restores 14%
The court said the 2019 law breached the 50% ceiling without exceptional reasons. Withheld posts must go to open-category candidates within three months, and both BJP and Congress plan to fight on.
Key points
- A Division Bench struck down the 2019 law that raised OBC reservation in state jobs and education from 14% to 27%, so the quota reverts to 14%.
- The court found no exceptional circumstances to justify crossing the 50% ceiling set by the Supreme Court.
- The 13% of posts withheld during the litigation must be filled from the unreserved category within three months.
- Chief Minister Mohan Yadav blamed the Kamal Nath government's ordinance, and Congress said it would move the Supreme Court.
Reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Madhya Pradesh government jobs and education is back to 14% after the High Court struck down the 2019 law that raised it to 27%.
A Division Bench of Justices Anand Pathak and Vinay Saraf, sitting at Jabalpur, delivered a 159-page judgment on 9 October in a batch of petitions led by Ashita Dubey and others. It held the amendment unconstitutional and said the state had not shown exceptional circumstances to breach the 50% ceiling on reservation laid down by the Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney and Jaishri Laxmanrao Patil cases.
What the court found
The bench drew a line around the question before it. “This case is not about grant of reservation but extent of reservation,” it said, holding that OBCs are entitled to 14%.
The court said data on higher education and public services showed OBCs were adequately represented under Article 16(4). OBCs made up 33.87% of enrolment in higher education and held 28.16% of government jobs, according to the figures before it. The bench rejected the state’s reliance on the 1983 Mahajan Committee report and a 2023 study by Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar University, and said the 2019 ordinance and Act were passed in undue haste, with flaws in process and drafting.
With the 27% figure, total reservation in the state would have reached 73%, the petitioners argued. Scheduled Castes get 16%, Scheduled Tribes 20% and the economically weaker sections 10%.
What happens to jobs and vacancies
While the case was pending, recruitment ran on an 87:13 formula, with 13% of posts held back. The court directed the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission, the Employees Selection Board and other recruiting agencies to fill those withheld posts from the unreserved category within three months.
Candidates appointed under the higher quota up to 29 September 2022 will keep their jobs. Their posts above the 14% limit are to be adjusted over the next three recruitment rounds. Appointments after that date that exceed 14% are void to the extent of the excess. Petitions seeking more OBC or EWS reservation were dismissed.
The OBC quota case
- 8 Mar 2019Kamal Nath's Congress government issues an ordinance raising OBC reservation from 14% to 27%
- 14 Aug 2019The increase becomes law through an amendment Act
- 29 Sep 2022Cut-off date for appointments the court has now protected
- 5 Aug 2026Final arguments end and the High Court reserves its verdict
- 9 Oct 2026High Court strikes down the 2019 law and restores 14%
- Within 3 monthsWithheld 13% of posts to be filled from the unreserved category
Blame and next steps
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav blamed the previous Congress government, saying its ordinance was rushed, had serious legal flaws and was issued without consulting the National Commission for Backward Classes. He said the state would study the ruling legally before deciding its next step. Minister Prahlad Patel was reported to have said the government would go to the Supreme Court.
BJP state president Hemant Khandelwal said the Kamal Nath government had prepared the 2019 papers in haste. “The BJP is committed to OBC reservation, and the state government will take all necessary steps in this regard,” he said on 9 October.
State Congress president Jitu Patwari accused the BJP government and the Chief Minister of working against OBCs and said the party would challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court. Former Chief Minister Kamal Nath accused successive BJP governments of failing to implement the quota and of presenting a weak case in court.
The OBC Mahasabha said it would also appeal and launch a statewide agitation. The High Court ruling stands unless the Supreme Court orders otherwise.