The newly formed BJP government in West Bengal, led by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, has issued an official notification regularising 66 communities under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. The move restricts the state’s total OBC quota to 7%, replacing the earlier 17% reservation structure and scrapping the multi-tiered sub-categories introduced under the former All India Trinamool Congress government. The decision directly enforces the landmark May 2024 Calcutta High Court judgment that struck down post-2010 OBC classifications over procedural irregularities while protecting 66 communities whose inclusion predated March 2010.
While the state government has described the move as judicial compliance and administrative correction, critics argue it drastically reduces reservation access for several marginalized groups. Centralized university admission portals have already adopted the revised 7% cap, even as the government attempts to ease employment concerns by extending the upper age limit for state recruitment exams by five years.
The Judicial Catalyst: Dismantling the Post-2010 Quota Structure
The roots of this policy shift trace back to May 20, 2024, when a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court delivered a major verdict against West Bengal’s reservation framework. The court invalidated a series of executive orders and statutory provisions introduced after March 2010 under the West Bengal Backward Classes Act, 2012.
The court held that the previous administration had bypassed mandatory consultation procedures with the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes. According to the judgment, the Commission was allegedly used to facilitate politically motivated classifications without conducting proper empirical or socio-economic surveys.
The ruling invalidated more than five lakh OBC certificates issued after 2010. However, the court explicitly protected 66 communities that had been recognized before March 5, 2010, under Article 16(4) of the Constitution, noting that their inclusion had never been legally challenged. It is this protected group that the new administration has now formally restored and insulated.
Restoring Identity: The 66 Regularised Communities
By publishing the revised notification, the state government has restored reservation benefits to a wide range of traditional, agricultural, and artisanal communities. The list includes both Hindu castes and Muslim sub-groups. Communities restored under the revised framework include Kapali, Baishya Kapali, Kurmi, Sutradhar (carpenters), Karmakar (blacksmiths), Kumbhakar (potters), Swarnakar (goldsmiths), Teli (oil-pressers), Nai or Napit (barbers), Yogi, Satchasi, Malakar, and Dhanuk.
The revised list also includes historically marginalized communities such as Turha, Khandait, and Kasai. Several Muslim social groups remain within the protected list, including Paharia Muslim, Hajjam (Muslim), Chowduli (Muslim), and Jolah (Ansari-Momin).
The notification further includes individuals who originally belonged to Scheduled Castes but later converted to Christianity, along with their descendants. The government maintains that limiting the reservation framework to these 66 groups creates a legally secure boundary fully aligned with the High Court’s directives.
Eliminating the ‘OBC-A’ and ‘OBC-B’ Split
Beyond redefining eligibility, the government has also dismantled the earlier quota structure. Under the previous regime, the state’s 17% OBC quota was divided into two categories: OBC Category A (More Backward), which carried a 10% reservation heavily comprising Muslim sub-groups, and OBC Category B (Backward), which held a 7% reservation largely consisting of backward Hindu communities.
Following the High Court ruling, which struck down Section 5(a) of the 2012 Act governing this sub-classification, the BJP government abolished the dual-category format entirely. The total OBC reservation for state jobs, administrative posts, and higher education admissions now stands capped at 7%. The revised framework has already been integrated into centralized university admission systems, affecting institutions such as Jadavpur University and Presidency University.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
Affirmative action should function as a bridge toward equity, dignity, and social inclusion rather than becoming a tool for political polarization. While judicial compliance remains essential for preserving the rule of law, the abrupt reduction of West Bengal’s OBC reservation framework from 17% to 7% risks creating insecurity among multiple communities dependent on state support systems.
In a socially diverse state like West Bengal, long-term stability requires transparent dialogue, credible socio-economic research, and inclusive policymaking that reassures every community of its place in the state’s development journey. Sustainable progress is achieved when administrative reforms strengthen coexistence and social trust instead of deepening divisions or creating new anxieties among students, workers, and marginalized groups.
MUSLIM "CASTES" PURGED FROM OBC LIST.
— Rahul Shivshankar (@RShivshankar) May 19, 2026
BJP GOVERNMENT IN WEST BENGAL UNDER SUVENDU ADHIKARI FULFILS PROMISE. NOTIFICATION ISSUED.
Only 66 OBCs included in the original list for quotas prior to Mamata's tenure in 2011 regularised. pic.twitter.com/C0nc9A45EY
