New Delhi, Nov 6 (NationPress) The Supreme Court has postponed the hearing regarding the West Bengal OBC list matter for a duration of four weeks, emphasizing that the Calcutta High Court should refrain from conducting any additional hearings while the case is being deliberated by the apex court.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai along with Justices K. Vinod Chandran and N.V. Anjaria expressed their dissatisfaction with the Calcutta High Court's choice to keep proceeding with the case, despite the Supreme Court's previous directives.

“If we are currently addressing the matter, what justifies the High Court continuing its proceedings?” questioned the CJI Gavai-led Bench, warning that if such hearings persist, the top court “might have to assign the matter to a different Bench.”

“Schedule the matter for a hearing in four weeks. We clarify that until further instructions are issued, the Calcutta High Court is not to engage in subsequent hearings,” the apex court decreed.

In an earlier directive dated July 28, the Supreme Court had suspended the Calcutta High Court's ruling that halted the publication of the revised OBC list for West Bengal.

The apex court described the contested Calcutta HC order as both “surprising” and “prima facie erroneous”, stating that reservation falls under the Executive's purview and does not necessitate legislative endorsement.

It disagreed with the Calcutta High Court's assertion that the West Bengal government should have secured the Assembly's consent before presenting the new OBC list.

“How can the Calcutta High Court impose such a stay? Reservation is a function of the Executive. This has been established law since the Indira Sawhney judgment, affirming that the Executive is capable of managing it. Executive instructions suffice for implementing reservations; legislative intervention is not required,” the apex court noted.

Earlier, on June 17, a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court had instructed the West Bengal government to refrain from issuing the final notification for the new OBC list until July 31 of this year.

Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Rajasekhar Mantha had expressed that the previous notifications from the West Bengal government regarding the new OBC list were likely in violation of the apex court's orders.

The new OBC list was anticipated to encompass 140 communities, and the interim stay was viewed as a significant setback for the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government.

In its plea before the apex court, the state government contended that if the interim injunction from the Calcutta High Court on finalizing the new OBC list remained effective until July 31, the recruitment processes under this category, as mandated by the apex court, would come to a halt.