'I will not accept': Mamata Banerjee on Calcutta HC scrapping OBC certificates issued in Bengal after 2010
Kolkata/IBNS: After the Calcutta High Court cancelled all Other Backward Classes (OBC) certificates issued in West Bengal after 2010, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday said she "will not accept" the order, which will "take away the rights granted to the Tapashili community".
This comes after the high court termed the OBC list prepared after 2010 'illegal'.
The court struck down a reservation for several communities as Other Backward Classes under a new law of the state government passed in 2012.
The verdict was given by a division bench comprising Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Rajasekhar Mantha.
"PM Modi had claimed that Muslims after winning will cancel the reservations for Tapashilis. It was a divisive agenda again. And this is what they got the court to do today. I respect the courts. But I do not accept the judgment that says Muslims should be kept out of OBC reservation. OBC reservations will continue. We will go to a higher court if need be," Mamata said.
The OBC reservation quota introduced by the West Bengal government will continue, the Chief Minister said.
"We had drafted the Bill after conducting a house-to-house survey, and it was passed by the cabinet and the assembly... The BJP has conspired to stall it but they lost in court," she added.
Hitting out at specific judges of the High Court without naming, the Chief Minister said, "One judge is saying, 'I am an RSS person', another one joins the BJP… How can you be a judge this way and preside over courts?"
Senior party leader and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee also alleged the court's judgment is part of the BJP's efforts to cancel reservations for the Tapashili community.
The judgement was delivered on a PIL challenging the process of granting OBC certificates.
The court directed that a fresh list of OBCs be prepared based on the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes Act of 1993 by the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes, reported India Today.
However, the judgement would not affect the people currently holding jobs or seats in educational institutions or making applications with caste certificates, the court said.
The West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012 section 2H, 5, 6 and Section 16 and Schedule I and III were struck down by high court as 'unconstitutional', the news channel reported.
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