Setting aside the decade old order of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled Chhattisgarh Government giving 58%

reservation in appointments and admissions in educational institutions, the High Court on Monday termed the

reservation above 50% as unconstitutional.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami and Justice PP Sahu said that the provision of more than 50% reservation is overnment order dating back to year 2012, the BJP blamed the ruling Congress for the fiasco with former Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh saying that the ruling Congress Government failed to properly table its side in the court, which is adequate testimony to its weakness.

It is worth mentioning here that in the year 2012, the BJP government had decided to give 58% reservation in government appointments and admissions in engineering, medical and other colleges.

The State’s decision was challenged by Dr Pankaj Sahu and Arun Kumar Pathak, who had filed a petition against it through advocate Mateen Siddiqui and Vinay Pandey. The petitioners had argued that more than 50% reservation is against the guidelines of the Supreme Court and the matter was sub-judice since then. After listening to all the concerned parties, the High Court had earlier reserved its judgment on the matter. Meanwhile, on Monday, the Division Bench set aside the previous government’s order and said that it is unconstitutional. Reacting to the judgment which set aside the government order, BJP National Vice President Dr Raman Singh said that government miserably failed in tabling its side in the court. He said that until the BJP was in power they were firm on their decision and now it’s up to congress to decide that how will they take the fight ahead. Meanwhile Communication Department In-charge of the Congress Sushil Anand Shukla blamed the negligence of the BJP for the same, arguing that when the reservation exceeded 50% then it was the responsibility of the Raman Government to prove the special circumstances before the court. Quoting Indira Sahni case, he said that the Supreme Court had clearly said that it will be upto the government to tell the special circumstances to the court if reservation exceeds 50% mark.