New Delhi, Nov 6 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned the hearing in the West Bengal OBC list matter for four weeks, clarifying that the Calcutta High Court must not proceed with any further hearings while the case is pending before the apex court.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai and Justices K. Vinod Chandran and N.V. Anjaria expressed displeasure over the Calcutta High Court’s decision to keep hearing the matter despite the Supreme Court’s earlier direction.

“When we are seized of the matter, why should the High Court continue the proceedings?” remarked the CJI Gavai-led Bench, cautioning that if such hearings continue, the top court “may have to say that some other Bench hears the matter”.

“List the matter after four weeks. We clarify that until further orders are passed, the Calcutta High Court should not proceed with further hearings,” the top court ordered.

In an earlier order passed on July 28, the Supreme Court had stayed the Calcutta High Court ruling that had paused the publication of West Bengal’s revised OBC list.

The apex court had termed the impugned Calcutta HC order both “surprising” and “prima facie erroneous”, noting that reservation falls squarely within the Executive’s domain and does not require legislative approval.

It did not approve the Calcutta High Court’s view that the West Bengal government ought to have taken the state Assembly’s approval before introducing the new OBC list.

“How can the Calcutta High Court pass a stay like this? Reservation is part of the Executive functions. This is the settled law right from the Indira Sawhney (judgment) that the Executive can do it. Executive instructions are enough for providing reservations and legislation is not necessary,” had remarked the apex court.

In an interim order passed on June 17, a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court had asked the West Bengal government not to publish the final notification for the new OBC list till July 31 this year.

A Bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Rajasekhar Mantha prima facie opined that the previous four to five notifications issued by the West Bengal government on the fresh survey to prepare the fresh OBC list were in violation of the apex court orders.

The fresh OBC list was supposed to include 140 communities, and the interim stay was perceived as a major blow to the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government.

In its plea filed before the apex court, the state government had argued that if the interim stay imposed by the Calcutta High Court on issuing the final notification for the fresh OBC list prevails till July 31, the process for recruitments under this category, as directed by the apex court earlier, would be stalled.

–IANS

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