Seven years of litigation, 15 days of hearings, 30 hours of arguments and a 159-page verdict. The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Friday struck down the increase in Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation, bringing it from the hiked 27 per cent to the older 14 per cent, ruling that the state had failed to establish grounds for breaching the 50 per cent reservation ceiling.
The controversy outlasted the Congress government. He also discussed the government’s position with Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. Former Madhya Pradesh State Backward Classes Commission chairman JP Dhanopia accused the state government of acting with mala fide intent. Cabinet Minister Prahlad Patel rejected the Congress’s criticism, describing reservation for backward classes as an important and sensitive issue. He blamed the original decision, alleging that the Kamal Nath government had acted hastily for political gain and self-interest. He added that the collective effort initiated by Chief Minister Yadav through the all-party meeting would continue.
Because of constitutional flaws, the ordinance, he said, had been struck down. The enhanced quota was introduced by the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in 2019 and subsequently defended by BJP governments. “OBCs are certainly entitled to get reservation to the extent of 14%. However, the case is not made out for increasing the reservation from 14% to 27%,” it said. The increase had taken combined reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs to 63 per cent. Citing the Supreme Court’s decisions in Indra Sawhney and Jaishri Laxmanrao Patil judgments, the court held that no extraordinary circumstances or emergent situation had been demonstrated to justify crossing the 50 per cent ceiling. The bench heard arguments over 15 days, comprising approximately 30 hours of hearings, before reserving its verdict on August 5. Based on the higher education and public employment data examined by it, the bench found that OBCs were adequately represented for the purposes of Article 16(4). It held that their reservation in public services and higher education would remain at 14 per cent. The dispute began with the March 2019 ordinance increasing OBC reservation to 27 per cent. A subsequent amendment to the state’s 1994 reservation law gave the increase statutory backing, but the legal challenge continued. After Kamal Nath’s government fell in March 2020, the issue continued under Shivraj Singh Chouhan and later Mohan Yadav, with the BJP also supporting the demand for the enhanced quota. Chief Minister Yadav convened an all-party meeting in August 2025 that adopted a unanimous resolution supporting 27 per cent OBC reservation.
“This case is not about grant of reservation but extent of reservation,” the bench observed. Lokendra Gurjar, a petitioner and member of the OBC Mahasabha’s national core committee, said the organisation would challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court and launch a statewide agitation for the community’s rights. Former CM Kamal Nath launched a sharp attack on the BJP, alleging that its “anti-OBC face” had been exposed. “During my tenure as Chief Minister in 2019, the Congress government had granted 27% reservation to OBCs in the state, mirroring the practice in other states across the country,” he said. “The Congress does not champion the interests of any specific section of society it acts solely for its own self-interest,” Patel said.
He alleged that despite the Chief Minister belonging to the OBC community, the government had failed to robustly present the correct facts before the court.
The court also criticised the preparation behind the legislation, referring to “undue haste and ill-preparedness”. It said the National Commission for Backward Classes ought to have been consulted on whether exceptional circumstances existed to exceed the ceiling.
