UP govt to challenge HC’s order on ULBs

LUCKNOW, Uttar Pradesh: The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh has made it clear that the state government will not hold Urban Local Body (ULB) polls without providing reservation benefits to the backward classes. Therefore, the state government is planning to challenge the High Court’s order regarding reservation issues in the Supreme Court of India.

The high court has ordered to conduct ULB polls without providing reservation to the Other Backward Classes (OBC). The state government is arguing that the earlier government has held the local body elections based on the same rapid survey adopted by the current government.

Considering the current situation, it would be difficult to hold ULB polls anytime soon, even though the Allahabad High Court has directed to conduct ULB polls by January 31, 2023.

A state official informed that the government will establish a dedicated commission to ascertain the social and educational backwardness of the OBC within 762 urban local bodies in the state.

The senior officials from the Department of Urban Development informed that the existing commission for OBC lacks the authority to collect or offer data on the political backwardness of the OBC in Uttar Pradesh. The existing commission has the mandate to ensure that the rights of the OBC population, regarding reservation in government jobs, educational institutions and other schemes launched by the state departments, are not violated.

The officer later added, “A new commission to collect empirical data on the political backwardness could be set up at a short notice, but collecting the data from 762 towns in UP, assessing it and making recommendations would be possible only after an exhaustive exercise which could take several weeks in a large state such as UP.”

The legal team in the state has reached out to the legal team in Maharashtra, where a similar type of commission has been established in March to gather empirical data on OBC families in Maharashtra.

When the data, mandated under the triple test gets ready, the state department in UP will reveal the reserved position of mayor and chairperson again.