Allahabad High Court quashes UP government orders notifying 18 OBCs as Scheduled Castes
Prayagraj(PTI): The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday quashed the Uttar Pradesh government orders which included 18 other backward classes (OBC) in the list of scheduled castes.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice JJ Munir allowed a public interest litigation that challenged the notifications issued in 2016 and 2019.
The PIL was filed by Dr. BR Ambedkar Granthalaya Evam Jan Kalyan, Gorakhpur and others.
The then Akhilesh Yadav government issued a notification on December 22, 2016, which provided for the inclusion of 18 OBC castes in the SC category.
However, the High Court put a ban on the issuance of SC certificates to these 18 OBC castes on January 24, 2017.
This was followed by another such notification by the Yogi Adityanath government on June 24, 2019 but the High Court intervened again and put a restriction on the process.
The SP government led by Mulayam Singh Yadav had issued a similar order in 2005 but it was stayed by the Allahabad High Court.
Two years later, the Mayawati government quashed the order but subsequently wrote to the central government extending her support for it.
Attacking the BJP on the HC decision, Samajwadi Party said that the reservation to the 18 most backward communities got cancelled due to ineffective action by the BJP government in court.
"SP President Shri Akhilesh Yadav had fulfilled his promise to include 18 most backward castes in the Scheduled Castes, which was rejected by the BJP's central government.
"Now the reservation has got cancelled due to poor handling of the case by the BJP's Yogi Adityanath government and due to lack of support from the BJP government at the Centre," the party said in a tweet in Hindi from its official Twitter handle.
"BJP also gave lollipops to these castes but did not keep its promise. This is a complete betrayal of those of the 18 most backward castes. Where are those BJP leaders who do politics of backward castes and the leaders of their allies? An answer is needed from the BJP government for its anti-backward step," he said.
The castes which the respective SP and Yogi governments intended to include in the SC category were - Majhwar, Kahar, Kashyap, Kevat, Mallah, Nishad, Kumhar, Prajapati, Dheevar, Bind, Bhar, Rajbhar, Dhiman, Batham, Turha, Godia, Manjhi and Machchhua.
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If Bumrah is not fit then a score of around 200 also might not be enough: Gavaskar
Sydney, Jan 4: Batting great Sunil Gavaskar feels India will struggle to defend even 200 in case premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah is unable to bowl at full throttle on the third day of the fifth and final Test against Australia here on Sunday.
Bumrah had left the field for scans during the second day's post-lunch session after bowling just one over, having experienced some discomfort. However, he returned to the dressing room after undergoing precautionary scans for an unspecified niggle.
India pacer Prasidh Krishna said his skipper had suffered back spasm.
The medical team was monitoring him as India ended the day 145 runs in front with four second innings wickets left on a SCG track which is aiding the bowlers.
"Look, if India scores 40 more runs or they put 185 on the board then they have a great chance but it all depends on Jasprit Bumrah's fitness. If Jasprit Bumrah is fit then 145-150 might be enough. But if Bumrah is not fit then a score of around 200 also might not be enough," said Gavaskar on Star Sports on Saturday.
Gavaskar also said maintaining secrecy around Bumrah's status is not going to help the Australians, who have so far struggled to counter the threat posed by the Indian pace spearhead.
"One thing that I liked was when he came back after the scan, obviously it took a lot of time because the hospital is a bit far, but he looked in good shape and his body language was such that there was no indication of the Australian team and it is very important to maintain the secrecy.
"Because, tactically you do not want to announce whether Bumrah will be available for bowling or not, and even if he is not available and this news goes across the opposition dressing room because till now Australian batsmen haven't found out a way to counter him, they don’t know whether they should attack, defend, or whether they should play on front-foot.
"So to execute this plan it is important to maintain secrecy, so Bumrah and the Indian team management managed it quite well," Gavaskar said.
The pacer has already taken 32 wickets in the series, and had figures of 2/33 in 10 overs before leaving the field, having removed Marnus Labuschagne in the morning session and Usman Khawaja on the last ball of the first evening.
