The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday, May 22, dealt a big blow to the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal. The High Court has canceled about 5 lakh OBC certificates issued since 2011. Now, OBC certificates will not be accepted even in job applications.
However, the High Court said that this judgment will not affect those who are already benefiting from this certificate and have already had the opportunity. About five lakh OBC certificates issued during TMC government tenure have been cancelled.
A division bench of Justice Tapobrata Chakraborty and Justice Rajshekhar Manthar said that since 2011, OBC certificates have been issued in the state without following any standard procedure. The bench said that issuing certificates in this manner is unconstitutional and has been done without following the advice of the Backward Class Commission; hence, all those certificates are cancelled. However, the court said that those who got employment based on a certificate issued during this period would not be affected by this verdict.
The bench further stated that "after that, the state legislature, i.e. Vidhansabha, has to decide who will be OBCs." "West Bengal Backward Classes Welfare Commission to determine the list of OBCs. That list should be sent to the state legislature or assembly. Those whose names are approved by the Assembly will be considered as OBCs in the future,” the court added.