SC accepted Jayant Kumar Banthia Commission

Highlights:

• Recently, The Supreme Court of India accepted the report of Jayant Kumar Banthia Commission. 
• Court also gave direction to Maharashtra State Election Commission to hold elections in accordance with the report.
• It also directed to take steps for holding the stalled elections in the state, on urgent basis and asked to announce the schedule for Election in next two weeks.
• The apex court was hearing a petition filed by Rahul Wagh in 2021,against the reservation.

• This report has paved way for candidates who belong to Other Backward Classes in Local Bodies’ Elections in Maharashtra.
• Commission has recommended to provide 27& reservation in local bodies. 
• This recommendation has been accepted by the supreme court. 
• Thus, OBCs will get 27% political reservation in local self-government elections to be held in state.
• As per report,reservation should be provided to OBCs in proportion to their population in each local body. 
• However, this reservation should not affect the statutory reservation for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. 
• It is subject to reservation limit of 50%.
• As per commission, the backward class of citizens (including OBCs) accounts for 37% of the total population. 
• But it is different in each of the local body.
• Jayant Kumar Banthia Commission is a six-member commission, set up by Maharashtra government in March 2022, to look into matter of reservation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in local bodies. It submitted its report on July 7, 2022.