In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court has dismissed the Telangana government’s petition seeking to implement a 42% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in local body elections. The state’s High Court had previously intervened, placing a stay on this increased quota, which would have pushed total reservations to 67%. The apex court’s bench, including Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, stated that this dismissal is not a final verdict on the reservation issue itself and the High Court remains empowered to adjudicate.
The Telangana administration had sought Supreme Court intervention after the High Court temporarily suspended the implementation of the enhanced OBC reservation. This controversial proposal was incorporated into the Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2025, and the Telangana Municipalities (Amendment) Bill, 2025, passed in August. The state argued that the High Court’s interim order overlooked the Supreme Court’s landmark Indira Sawhney judgment, which permits exceeding the 50% reservation ceiling under specific conditions.
Legal representatives for the petitioners opposing the quota hike countered that the Indira Sawhney ruling’s exceptions are limited to tribal communities in designated Fifth Schedule areas and primarily address reservations in education and employment, not political representation in local bodies. They emphasized that the proposed 42% OBC quota would violate established legal precedents.
The Supreme Court’s decision allows the ongoing local body elections, which began on October 9, to continue without interruption. The ultimate decision on the 42% OBC reservation will now be determined by the Telangana High Court.