Lucknow: UP government’s notifications for including 18 Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the Scheduled Castes have been quashed. The Allahabad High Court nullified the order on Wednesday, official sources said. A bench of Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice JJ Munir allowed a public interest litigation challenging the notifications issued in 2016 and in 2019.
Dr BR Ambedkar Granthalaya Evam and Jan Kalyan and others filed the petition. The government led by former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav issued a notification for including 18 OBCs in the list of Scheduled Castes. On January 24, 2017, the high court imposed a ban on including these 18 castes in the SC category. Similarly, the state government led by Yogi Adityanath issued a notification for including those OBCs in the category of SC, but the high court nullified the notification on June 24, 2019.