Patna High Court on Thursday set aside two laws the Bihar government had enacted raising the total volume of social-category reservations in the state from 50 per cent to 65 per cent, calling them a violation of the Constitution and its equality provisions.

It also rapped the state government for failing to conduct an “in-depth study or analysis” before increasing the reservation volumes for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and the Extremely Backward Castes.

The division bench of Chief Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice Harish Kumar delivered the 87-page judgment after hearing a batch of 10 public interest petitions.

“We set aside the Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) Amendment Act, 2023, and the Bihar Reservation (in Admission to Educational Institutions) Amendment Act, 2023, as ultra vires the Constitution and violative of the equality clause under Articles 14, 15 and 16. The writ petitions are allowed leaving the parties to suffer their respective costs,” the judgment said.

It ruled that there was no need to appoint a commission — or make a reference to the existing national or state commissions — to reconsider the quotas or their volumes.

The judgment did not make it clear what would happen to those already recruited to government jobs or admitted to educational institutions on the basis of the new (now quashed) quota volumes.

The Bihar government had enacted the two laws last November following a caste-based survey, which counted the castes under 215 heads. It found that 36.02 per cent of Bihar’s 13.07 crore people were EBCs while 27.13 per cent were OBCs, 19.65 per cent were Dalits and 1.68 per cent were tribal, with the general category making up the remaining 15.52 per cent.

Under the new laws, the SC quota rose from 16 to 20 per cent, the ST quota from 1 to 2 per cent, the EBC quota from 18 to 25 per cent and the OBC quota from 12 to 18 per cent. (Previously, there was a separate 3 per cent quota for OBC and EBC women. The new quota regime dropped this and introduced a one-third sub-quota for women in each category.)

Along with the separate 10 per cent reservation for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) among general category citizens, brought in by the Centre in 2019, the overall reservation in Bihar went up to 75 per cent.

The high court said various court decisions had reaffirmed the 50 per cent upper limit for social-category reservations.

It added that the exceptions allowed for exceeding the 50 per cent limit were restricted to “extenuating circumstances and characteristically inherent aspects akin to far-flung areas, thus being kept away from the mainstream of national life”.

“(That) these conditions do not exist and were not demonstrated in the instant case is abundantly clear. That, the State attempted no in-depth study or analysis before providing for enhancement of the reservation percentage is established from the records,” the bench said.

“(That) the State proceeded on the mere proportion of population of different categories as against their numerical representation in government services and educational institutions is the admitted position and is the pivotal argument of the State. That this argument works against the core principles of Articles 15(4) & 16(4) is a given fact.

“In our judgment hence, the enhancement of reservations beyond the 50 per cent limit is bad in law based on the principles of equality emanating from the Constitution, as laid down by the wealth of precedents.”

Bihar deputy chief minister and state BJP chief Samrat Choudhary indicated the high court judgment would be challenged, saying: “We will seek justice from the Supreme Court in this matter.”

Most political parties, ruling or Opposition, maintained a studied silence on the high court verdict but the CPIML criticised it as “gross injustice to the deprived sections of the society”.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government first crossed the 50 per cent limit on reservation by implementing a 10 per cent quota for the EWS. The Supreme Court upheld it,” CPIML general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said.