Setback for Bihar, SC refuses to stay Patna HC verdict on raising quotas

The Bench, however, agrees to hear as many as 10 petitions of the Bihar government against the Patna HC verdict

New Delhi: In a setback to the Bihar government, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay a Patna High Court order setting aside the amended reservation laws in the State that enabled the Nitish Kumar dispensation to raise quotas for Dalits, tribals and backward classes from 50 per cent to 65 per cent.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwla and Manoj Misra, however, agrees to hear as many as 10 petitions of the Bihar government against the Patna HC verdict.

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The top court, which did not even issue notices on the pleas, granted leave for appeal and said the petitions will be heard in September. Appearing for the State government, senior advocate Shyam Divan urged the Bench to stay the HC order.

He referred to a similar case of Chhattisgarh and said that the top court had stayed the order of the High Court in that case. “We will list the matter, but we will not grant any stay (on the HC verdict),” the CJI said.

In its June 20 verdict, the High Court declared that the amendments, passed unanimously by the State’s bicameral legislature in November last year, were “ultra vires” of the Constitution, “bad in law” and “violative of the equality clause”.