Context: The Allahabad HC recently ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to hold urban local body elections without reservation for OBCs as the 'triple test' requirement for it had not been met. 

2010 Supreme Court Judgement

• The five-judge Constitution Bench decision in K. Krishnamurthy (Dr.) v. Union of India (2010) wherein the Supreme Court had interpreted Article 243D(6) and Article 243T(6), which permit reservation by enactment of law for backward classes in panchayat and municipal bodies respectively, to hold that barriers to political participation are not the same as that of the barriers that limit access to education and employment.

• However, for creating a level playing field, reservation may be desirable as mandated by the aforementioned Articles which provide a separate constitutional basis for reservation, as distinct from what are conceived under Article 15 (4) and Article 16 (4) which form the basis for reservation in education and employment.

• Though reservation to local bodies is permissible, the top court declared that the same is subject to empirical finding of backwardness in relation to local bodies as fulfilled through the triple tests.

Background

• In 2021, the SC scrapped OBC quotas in local body polls in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, and the Odisha high court cancelled a similar move in the state because the exercise didn’t pass the triple test.

• The Triple-Test Formula, laid down by the Supreme Court in 2010 and later reiterated in March 2021, required the states to appoint a commission, collect quantifiable data of the community, and allocate reservation to them in local bodies in such a manner that the total reservation in each seat does not exceed 50%.

• Currently, local bodies in Madhya Pradesh have quotas only for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women.

• This is the first time that a state government has managed to clear the triple test formula mandated by the apex court in the context of providing reservation for OBCs in local body polls.

• Earlier, the SC while hearing a plea by the Maharashtra government decided to recall its December 2021 order, which stayed 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in local body elections.

Key Points

• The five-member commission will conduct a survey to ensure that the OBCs are provided reservation on the basis of the triple test, as mandated by the Supreme Court.

• This is the first time that the triple test exercise will be carried out in Uttar Pradesh. Sources said the law department and the urban development department will lay down the guidelines to be adopted for the process.

About Triple Test

The triple test requires the government to complete three tasks for finalisation of reservation to OBCs in the local bodies. These include:

• a) To set up a dedicated commission to conduct a rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness in local bodies;

• b) To specify the proportion of reservation required in local bodies in light of recommendations of the commission, so as not to fall foul of overbreadth;

• c) To ensure reservation for SCs/STs/OBCs taken together does not exceed an aggregate of 50 per cent of the total seats.

Note: These triple test/conditions were outlined by the Supreme Court in the case of Vikas Kishanrao Gawali vs. State of Maharashtra and others, decided on March 4, 2021.

What does the Court’s ordered?

• The state has been directed to consider the claim of transgender for their inclusion among the Backward Class of citizens.

• A dedicated Commission is constituted for undertaking the exercise of conducting the empirical study as to the nature and implications of Backwardness for the purposes of providing reservation to the backward class of citizens in the context of elections to the urban local bodies.

• The bench quashed the draft notification issued by the Uttar Pradesh government, expressing its intent to conduct Urban Local Body Election including OBC seats reserved.

Why such order has been given by the High Court?

• The Allahabad High Court noted that the UP Government didn't constitute any dedicated Commission to conduct a contemporaneous rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness qua local bodies and without such data being available, providing quota for OBC was not valid.

• On the Other hand the triple test formula mandated by the apex courtin the context of providing reservation for OBCs in local body polls.