No reservation for BC, ST in Puducherry local body polls; Opposition parties to approach SC

After the Madras High Court dismissed their petition, Puducherry opposition parties will now move the Supreme Court to challenge the notification on local body polls in the Union Territory without reservations to Backwards Classes(BCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). The petition would be in addition to another case for reservation from the territory pending in court.

After hearing arguments for two days, the bench of Acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bandari and Justice PD Adikesavalu of the Madras High Court had dismissed the petition on Wednesday.

Vijay Narayan, Senior Counsel and former Advocate General of Tamil Nadu, appearing for the Puducherry government, said that the government was planning to set up a commission to study political backwardness and was fully committed to providing reservation for the Backward Classes. He further sought two months' time to sort the issue.

However, Advocate P Wilson, representing DMK and other opposition parties, said that caste-wise data on the BCs and STs was taken during the previous census and is already available with the Union Ministry of Social Empowerment. Providing reservations to SCs and STs is constitutionally mandatory, they added.