The Patna High Court today struck down the 65% reservation in government jobs and education introduced last year following a statewide caste survey in Bihar. This move had pushed Bihar’s reservation beyond the 50% cap mandated by the Supreme Court.
The division bench led by Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran was hearing petitions challenging the legislation passed by the Nitish Kumar government in November 2023, when Kumar’s JDU was in alliance with the RJD and the Congress.
The bench struck down the amendments introduced by the Bihar Assembly, saying that they exceeded constitutional powers and violated the equality clause under Articles 14, 15, and 16 of the Constitution.
The amended reservation structure included allocations of 20% for Scheduled Castes, 2% for Scheduled Tribes, 43% for Other Backward Classes, and Extremely Backward Classes, leaving only 35% for candidates from the general merit category.
Speaking to reporters, one of the counsels for the petitioners, said, “We argued that the amendments to the reservation laws were unconstitutional. The court had reserved its judgement in March after hearing both sides, and today, the final order has been issued.”
In November last year, shortly after the Bihar Assembly unanimously passed the Reservation Bill, the Nitish Kumar government had issued gazette notifications to increase the quota for disadvantaged castes from 50% to 65% in state government jobs and educational institutions.
Bihar became the second state in the country to provide the highest percentage of reservations to backward classes, offering 43%, just behind Tamil Nadu’s 50%. Bihar was followed by Sikkim and Kerala, each with 40% reservation. Bihar also allocates a 10% quota for economically weaker sections (EWS) among the upper castes.
Reacting to the Patna High Court’s ruling, Rajya Sabha MP from RJD, Manoj Kumar Jha drew parallels with Tamil Nadu’s historical struggles for reservations and vowed to continue the fight. He also raised questions about the social background and motivations of the petitioners.
“Such rulings prolong the journey towards the destination of social justice. We remember Tamil Nadu had to struggle for many years, we will do the same. But we must see what is the social background of these petitioners, who is controlling them from behind the curtains. We saw the same thing during the caste survey,” he said.
Jha reiterated his party’s longstanding demand to put reservation under the ninth schedule of the Constitution to protect it from judicial scrutiny. “The NDA government is in power now, courtesy Nitish Kumar. He should go to the higher court and secure the rights of a big population,” the RJD leader advised.
Last year, the Punjab and Haryana High Court set aside the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act 2020, which provided 75% reservation in Haryana industries for state domiciles.
