“Will Not Accept” Says Mamata Banerjee After Calcutta HC Cancels OBC Certificates

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday cancelled all OBC certificates issued in West Bengal after 2010.

According to reports, A division bench of Calcutta High Court on Wednesday passed a verdict scrapping more than five lakh OBC certificates issued by the Bengal government after 2010 as “invalid”. This, however, would not affect the people currently holding jobs or seats in educational institutions or those who filed applications with caste certificates, the court said.

Within hours of the verdict, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said ‘she will not accep’t the judgment. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been claiming that Muslims will take away the reservations of SCs, STs and OBCs. It was a divisive agenda 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,” she added.

The court has directed the West Bengal Backward Classes Commission to prepare a new list of OBCs in accordance with the 1993 Act. Those in the OBC list before 2010 will remain. However, all OBC nominations after 2010 were cancelled. An estimated 5 lakh OBC certificates are set to be cancelled in light of the order.

The OBC reservation quota introduced by the West Bengal government will continue, the Chief Minister said.

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