The West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Monday passed two Bills amending the state’s OBC reservation laws, bringing changes that will affect reservation in government jobs and services. The amendments provide a seven per cent reservation for 66 OBC communities and reorganise the state’s OBC categories in line with directions issued by the Calcutta High Court.The two Bills are The West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) (Amendment) Bill, 2026 and The West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes (Amendment) Bill, 2026.A total of 186 MLAs voted in favour of the Bills, while 17 voted against them. Six members abstained from voting. Before the voting, a section of rebel TMC MLAs led by Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee walked out of the House.Introducing the Bills, Backward Classes Development Minister Gourishankar Ghosh said the government was following the High Court’s directions and denied any political motive behind the amendments.“We have removed 113 classes included earlier without conducting any field survey, and retained 66 sub-classes, which were included following various surveys,” Ghosh told the House.He added, “The Backward Classes commission will conduct inquiries and if it feels any community should be included, it can make recommendations for state government’s considerations. The previous government had bypassed the Commission and that is why the High Court struck down the process.”The amendments formally approve the state government’s decision to provide a seven per cent reservation to the 66 communities that were included in the OBC list before 2010. They also allow the government, after consulting the Backward Classes Commission, to decide reservation percentages for different OBC categories. However, the total reservation in the state cannot exceed 50 per cent.Under the amended law, the government can classify OBC communities into different categories based on their social and educational backwardness. Reservation in government services and posts will then be provided separately for each category.The second Bill amends the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993. It allows citizens to apply for inclusion in the OBC list. The Commission will examine such applications and recommend whether they should be accepted. People can also file complaints regarding over-inclusion or under-inclusion of any community in the OBC list, after which the government will act based on the Commission’s recommendations.The amendments follow the Calcutta High Court’s May 2024 judgment, which struck down the OBC status granted to 77 additional communities, mainly included between 2010 and 2012, calling the process illegal and unconstitutional.The court cancelled around 12 lakh OBC certificates issued after 2010 but protected the jobs already secured through those certificates. It also ruled that OBC certificates issued before 2010 would remain valid.On May 19, the state government discontinued religion-based categorisation and regularised the 66 communities included in the OBC list before 2010, restoring their eligibility for a seven per cent reservation in government jobs. Monday’s Bills provide legal backing to that decision.
