Bengal Assembly amends Mamata-era OBC laws, removes 77 Muslim communities from reservation list

The West Bengal Legislative Assembly on 29 June passed twin Bills, amending the erstwhile Trinamool Congress-era Act of 2012 concerning the reservations of classes under the OBC category in the state amid a walkout by a section of rebel TMC MLAs led by Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee.

The two proposed laws formally change OBC reservation laws and remove various Muslim communities from OBC lists as directed by the Calcutta high court in May 2024.

The Bills – The West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) (Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts) (Amendment) Bill, 2026 and The West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes (Amendment) Bill, 2026 – gave reservation to 66 classes under the OBC category while revising the quota structure from the earlier 17 per cent to 7 per cent in line with Calcutta High Court directives, besides reorganising the OBC categories.

The amendments have also revised the reservation quota for OBCs from 10% to 7% and reorganised OBC categories. Also, a 1993 law applicable to the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes has been now amended.

What changes now?

The previous Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government in Bengal had revised the OBC list first to 113 sub-groups with 77 Muslim and 36 Hindu sub-groups.

In 2025, however, this was struck down by the Calcutta High Court. The government then revised this to 140 sub-groups which had 77 Muslims, but 63 Hindu sub-groups. The High Court had put a stay on this, but the Supreme Court had vacated the stay. Now the OBC classification has reverted back to the pre-Trinamool 66 OBC sub-groups.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had repeatedly alleged that the TMC government extended OBC benefits disproportionately to Muslim communities while overlooking several socially and educationally backward Hindu groups.

In May, days after coming to power in Bengal for the first time, the BJP government led by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari scrapped the OBC status of 77 Muslim communities during the TMC regime and reduced the reservation quota for all OBCs to 7%

After the amendments, as many as 77 Muslim communities have been removed from the OBC list, while several others remain eligible for reservation.

Muslim communities retained in the new OBC list include the Jolah (Ansari Momin), Fakir, Pahadia Muslim, Hajjam (Muslim) and Chowduli (Muslim).

The deleted 77 communities include Muslim Nehariya, Muslim Haldar, Muslim Sanpui, Muslim Mali, Ghosi (Muslim), Muslim Darji/ Ostagar/ Idrisi, Muslim Rajmistri, Muslim Batiyara, Muslim Molla, Dhali (Muslim) and a host of others.

What happened in Bengal Assembly?

On Monday, as many as 186 MLAs voted in favour of the Bills, while 17 voted against them during voting in Bengal assembly.

Six members abstained from voting. The division of votes was ordered by Speaker Rathindra Bose on a request by ISF MLA Nawsad Siddiqui, who, alongside rebel TMC MLA Biswanath Das, opposed the Bills on grounds of violation of social justice for the backward classes and urged their reference to a select committee.

Several TMC members owing allegiance to the Ritabrata Banerjee-led group staged a walkout from the House before the voting. The group owing allegiance to Mamata Banerjee, however, stayed in the House and participated in the voting on the amendment.

Introducing the Bills, state Backward Classes Development minister Gourishankar Ghosh said the government was acting in accordance with the High Court directions and said there were no political motives behind the amendments.

"We have removed 113 classes included earlier without conducting any field survey, and retained 66 sub-classes, which were included following various surveys," Ghosh told the House.

"The Backward Classes commission will conduct inquiries and if it feels any community should be included, it can make recommendations for state government's considerations. The previous government had bypassed the Commission and that is why the High Court struck down the process," he said.

What was the May 2024 Calcutta HC judgement?

In a May 2024 judgment, the Calcutta High Court struck down the OBC status and certificates issued to 77 additional communities, primarily added between 2010 and 2012, declaring the inclusions illegal and unconstitutional.

The verdict cancelled roughly 12 lakh OBC certificates issued after 2010, while protecting the positions of individuals who had already secured employment through the quota. The court ruled that certificates issued before 2010 remain valid.

On May 19, the state government discontinued religion-based categorisation schemes and regularised 66 communities that were included in the state's OBC reservation list prior to 2010, restoring their eligibility for a seven per cent quota.

The notification, issued by the state Backward Classes Welfare Department, said these communities, clubbed under a single category and three of whom are Muslim, will now be eligible for a seven per cent reservation in government services and posts.

The current regularisation replaced the previous system which allotted 10 per cent reservation under Category A, identified as 'more backward', and seven per cent under Category B, termed 'backward'.

Monday's amendments – while empowering the state government, in consultation with the Commission, to determine the reservation percentage for different OBC categories – provided legal sanction to the state cabinet's move.

The percentage of reserved posts may be revised periodically in proportion to the reservation quota, but the overall reservation will not exceed 50 per cent, the amended Bill said as per a PTI report.

After consulting the Commission, the state government will be empowered to classify OBC citizens into different categories based on the extent of their social and educational backwardness. Reservation in posts will then be provided separately for each category, it added.

The Bill to amend the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993, states that citizens will be able to apply for inclusion in the OBC list. The commission will examine such applications and make recommendations to the state government.

(With agency inputs)

Complaints regarding over-inclusion or under-inclusion of any section in the OBC list may also be submitted. In such cases, the government will act in accordance with the commission's recommendations. The tenure of the commission members will be three years, but the government will decide on the term of the Member-Secretary, who would be a serving government official.

(With PTI inputs)