In a significant ruling, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday nullified all Other Backward Classes (OBC) certificates issued in West Bengal since 2010. The verdict was delivered by a division bench comprising Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Rajasekhar Mantha in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the process of granting OBC certificates.

The court mandated the creation of a new OBC list by the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes, adhering to the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes Act of 1993. The high court deemed the OBC list prepared after 2010 as "illegal."

Additionally, the court struck down sections 2H, 5, 6, and Section 16, along with Schedules I and III, of the West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012, labeling them as "unconstitutional."

Advocate Sudipta Dasgupta explained, "The PIL filed in 2011 claimed that all OBC certificates issued after 2010 bypassed the 1993 Act. The court's decision today annulled all OBC certificates issued between 2010 and 2024. Those holding certificates from before 2010 will not be affected."

The court clarified that its order would not impact the services of citizens who have already benefited from OBC reservations or succeeded in any state selection processes. The ruling also left untouched the state government's executive orders classifying 66 OBC categories prior to 2010, as these were not challenged in the petitions.

Reacting to the ruling, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared that she would not accept the high court's order and criticized the BJP. "We won't accept BJP's order. OBC reservation will continue. This is a disgraceful chapter in the country—this wasn't done by me. Upen Biswas had implemented it," she said.

Banerjee questioned why similar policies in BJP-ruled states were not scrutinized and asserted that Prime Minister Modi's comments about minorities affecting reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were misleading. "Minorities can never touch the reservations for Scheduled Castes or Adivasis. But these mischievous people (BJP) use agencies to achieve their goals," she added.