The Supreme Court posted the case for after four weeks, clarifying the Calcutta High Court should not proceed with the hearing until further orders.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Supreme Court on Thursday (November 6, 2025) stayed proceedings before the Calcutta High Court in connection with the West Bengal government’s preparation of a fresh list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai passed the stay order on the basis of a submission by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, for the State, that the High Court was intending to hear the case regardless of the fact that the apex court was seized of it.
“We need a stay. The HC says it will continue hearing the whole matter and decide the case finally,” Mr. Sibal submitted on behalf of the State of West Bengal.
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Chief Justice Gavai questioned the “anxiety” of the High Court to hear the case.
“When the Supreme Court is seized of the matter, how can the HC hear the case?” the CJI asked.
The apex court posted the case after four weeks, clarifying the High Court should not proceed with the hearing until further orders.
In March, the State had sought three months from the Supreme Court on the ground that the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes was taking a fresh look at the “issue of Backward Classes” in the State. However, the High Court had ordered a stay on the new benchmark survey and notifications for classification and reservation of OBCs on June 17.
The High Court decision was based on petitions contending that the new survey was a violation of its May 2024 judgment, which had struck down a State policy to include several castes, largely Muslim communities, in the OBC list.
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In that judgment, the High Court had concluded that religion was the “sole criterion for declaring these communities as OBC”. It had found the “selection of 77 classes of Muslims as backwards an affront to the Muslim community as a whole”.
The 2024 High Court judgment had impacted five lakh OBC certificates issued in the State since 2010. It had struck down portions of the West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012.
Among the Sections nullified were Section 16, the second part of Section 2(h), and Section 5(a) of the Act, which distributed reservation percentages of 10% and 7% to the sub-classified categories. Consequently, the sub-classified categories OBC-A and OBC-B were removed from Schedule I of the Act.
Published – November 06, 2025 07:41 pm IST
