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Sanjay Ramdas Patil v. Sanjay & Others

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 435Decided 1 Sept 2021
Civil Appeal No. 5060 of 2021
Justice L. Nageswara Rao · Justice B.R. Gavai

Background

The Office of Mayor of Dhule Municipal Corporation was reserved for the "Backward Class" category for the 2021 term under a Maharashtra Government notification. A Scheduled Caste councillor who wanted the post reserved for Scheduled Castes instead challenged this before the Bombay High Court, arguing that Backward Class reservation had already been given twice before while Scheduled Castes had never gotten a turn, violating the "rotation" principle. The High Court agreed and quashed the notification, directing the State to reconsider. The councillors who had benefited from the reservation, along with the State of Maharashtra, appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations (Reservation of Offices of Mayors) Rules, 2006 must be read as a whole alongside Article 243T of the Constitution and Section 19(1A) of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act. Because the Rules reserve far more seats for Backward Class citizens (7) than for Scheduled Castes (3) statewide, it is mathematically inevitable that some corporations will get Backward Class reservation twice before Scheduled Castes get a turn even once: this is a structural feature of the scheme, not a violation of rotation. The Court found the State had correctly followed the prescribed draw-of-lots procedure, excluding corporations already reserved for a category in recent terms. It set aside the High Court's judgment and upheld the original reservation notification.

Lesson Learnt

When different reserved categories are allotted very different numbers of total seats under a rotation scheme, it is not automatically unfair or illegal for one category to get repeat turns before another gets its first: courts will look at whether the government followed its own prescribed rotation procedure, not whether the numerical outcome "feels" equal.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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