Odisha Assembly passes Bill to cap reservation for SC, ST, OBC in panchayat bodies at 50pc

Amid a noisy protest by the Opposition BJP and Congress MLAs in the House, the state Assembly Wednesday passed the Odisha Panchayat Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which seeks to cap the reservation of seats in the three-tier panchayat system to 50 per cent for all the three categories comprising STs, SCs and OBCs. The Bill amended relevant provisions of the Odisha Grama Panchayat Act, 1964, the Odisha Panchayat Samiti Act, 1959 and Odisha Zilla Parishad Act, 1991, Panchayati Raj and Law Minister Pratap Jena said while piloting the Bill.

“The amendments in the above three Acts have been proposed to fix the upper ceiling of reservation of seats for SCs, STs and OBCs at 50 per cent,” Jena said.

As per Article 243-D of the statute, the state government has the discretion of reserving seats for OBCs and accordingly, the Odisha Grama Panchayat Act, 1964, the Odisha Panchayat Samiti Act, 1959 and Odisha Zilla Parishad Act, 1991 had to be amended to provide 27 per cent of reservation for OBCs in the elections to Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRI).

Similarly, quota for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, as per provision of the Constitution, has been fixed in proportion to their population in Odisha. In some PRIs, the reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes exceeds 50 per cent limit, he pointed out.

The Orissa High Court, in an order, had instructed the government in 2016 to set upper limit of reservation of seats for the SC, ST and OBCs and not exceed 50 per cent in deference to a judgment passed by the Supreme Court in the K Krishna Murthy case.

The state government had moved the apex court through a special leave petition and challenged the order of the Orissa High Court, but the Supreme Court upheld the High Court’s order. Hence, the state government’s amendment was necessary to comply with the High Court order, delivered on the basis of the Supreme Court verdict, before the panchayat elections, Jena said.

This apart, the Assembly also passed the Odisha Government Land Settlement (Amendment) Bill, 2021, the Odisha Housing Board (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the Indian Stamp (Odisha Amendment) Bill, 2021.

As the four important Bills were passed within about 40 minutes amid pandemonium, the Opposition Congress and BJP strongly criticised the government’s action. “We strongly condemn the government’s action of passing the four Bills without discussion in the House,” BJP chief whip Mohan Majhi said.

Congress Legislature Party leader Narasingha Mishra said that there was no point in passing such important Bills in a hurry. “The members should be given adequate time to analyse the provisions of the Bills. This is not happening here,” Mishra said.

Both the Opposition BJP and Congress MLAs had been protesting in the well of the House during the day demanding a discussion on the alleged irregularities in the mining sector. They gheraoed the speaker in his Assembly chamber after he adjourned proceedings for an hour till 11.30 am owing to a ruckus in the House. With the speaker held up in his chamber, Deputy Speaker Rajanikant Singh presided over the House at 11.30 am and further extended the adjournment till 4 pm. The four Bills were passed when the deputy speaker presided over the House.