UP government issues draft notification with reservation for OBC
LUCKNOW: Two days after the Supreme Court of India approved the report of the Backward Commission recommending quota provisions for OBC in Urban Civic bodies of Uttar Pradesh and giving a nod to the state government to go ahead with the Urban Local body polls, Yogi Adityanath issued a draft notification giving the provisional list of reserved seats for mayors of municipal corporations, and
chairpersons of municipal councils and nagar panchayats for the three-tier urban elections here on Thursday.
While sharing the details, UP Urban Development Minister AK Sharma said, “The draft notification has been issued for the reserved seats. Objections have been sought on the list within seven days till April 6, 2023 .”
The provisional list issued by the state authorities pertains to reserved seats for mayors across 17 municipal corporations of the state, chairpersons of municipal councils and nagar panchayats. At present, there are 762 urban local bodies including 17 municipal corporations, 200 Nagar Palika Parishads and 545 Nagar Panchayats. The total population of these 762 urban local bodies is 4.85 crore.
Meanwhile, proceeding towards holding the urban civic polls in the state, Yogi cabinet had on Wednesday approved an ordinance for the amendment of the Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act and the Nagar Palika Act, and it was sent to Governor Anandiben Patel for her assent which was given by her on Thursday.
A senior state government official confirmed that the Governor gave her assent to the ordinance. The official added that the amendment to the Municipal Corporation and Nagar Palika Act was necessary after the recommendations of a dedicated Backward Commission constituted to look into the backwardness of areas in the state for reservation.
Notably, on March 27, the Supreme Court had directed the State Election Commission to issue a notification within two days for holding the urban local body polls in Uttar Pradesh with the provision of OBC reservation.
Nine of the 17 mayoral seats have been reserved for members of different categories. While Agra has been reserved for SC (woman), Jhansi for SC, Shahjahanpur and Firozabad OBC (women), Saharanpur and Meerut for OBC, besides Lucknow, Kanpur and Ghaziabad for women, according to the draft notification.
The rest of eight mayoral seats of Varanasi, Prayagraj, Aligarh, Bareilly, Moradabad, Gorakhpur, Ayodhya and Mathura-Vrindavan would go unreserved, the minister said.
Earlier, a draft notification regarding the provision of quota for OBCs was issued by the state government on December 5, last year. However, it was challenged in the Allahabad High Court which then ordered the UP government to go ahead with the urban civic polls without OBC quota. The High Court had
claimed that the criteria of the UP government for recommending quota for OBC was not in consonance with the norm of “triple test” formula laid by the Supreme Court.
A five-member commission headed by Justice (retired) Ram Avatar Singh was formed on December 28. It submitted its report to Chief Minister Adityanath on March 9 and it was accepted by the Cabinet on March 10.
