The bench opined that the Commission should have taken appropriate precautions while dealing with the applications, "filed by the classes from a particular community, regardless of the nomenclature of the community".
It cannot be expected that the Commission was totally unaware of the public announcement made by the then Chief Minister to grant 10 percent reservation to Muslims, the Court added.
The bench further noted that the State government, after receiving the recommendation from the Commission, within four months procured and relied upon an executive Summary of a study done by the Anthropology Department of the University of Calcutta, to sub-classify the classes.
The State must have known much earlier about the said study which was aimed at determining the reasons for the backwardness of the Muslim Community, the order stated.
"This would justify the joining of dots and notice the curious timeline.
The bench opined that the Commission should have taken appropriate precautions while dealing with the applications, "filed by the classes from a particular community, regardless of the nomenclature of the community".
It cannot be expected that the Commission was totally unaware of the public announcement made by the then Chief Minister to grant 10 percent reservation to Muslims, the Court added.
The bench further noted that the State government, after receiving the recommendation from the Commission, within four months procured and relied upon an executive Summary of a study done by the Anthropology Department of the University of Calcutta, to sub-classify the classes.
The State must have known much earlier about the said study which was aimed at determining the reasons for the backwardness of the Muslim Community, the order stated.
"This would justify the joining of dots and notice the curious timeline. The announcement by the Chief Minister, the recommendation of the 77 classes in lightening speed by the Commission the immediate declaration by the State of such Religious Classes as OBCs, and the Executive Summary of the Anthropology Department of Calcutta University and the sub-classifications based on the same," the Court said
Thus, it concluded that religion had been the sole criterion for declaring these communities as OBCs.
