The Gujarat Assembly on Friday passed the Gujarat Local Authorities Law (Amendment) Bill, 2023, by a majority vote to raise reservation for Other Backward Class (OBC) communities in local self-government bodies to 27% from the current 10%.
The bill was passed on Friday through a majority voice vote after all the 17 Congress MLAs, including Congress Legislative Party leader Amit Chavda and senior MLA Arjun Modhwadia, staged a walkout in protest demanding a higher ratio of reservation and tabling of a report of the commission headed by former Supreme Court Justice K S Zaveri.
The state government on August 29 announced 27% reservation for OBCs in the local governing bodies on the basis of a report submitted by the Zaveri Commission. However, in areas notified under the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) (PESA) Act, most of them with a substantial tribal population, the OBC quota in local bodies will remain at 10%.
Also, the existing quota for SC/ST will remain unchanged and there has been no breach of the 50% reservation ceiling, Gujarat Minister for Parliamentary and Legislative Affairs Rushikesh Patel said while tabling the bill in the Assembly.
Congress members demanded that instead of a uniform ratio of 27% applicable to all the local bodies of the state, reservations should be declared unit-wise in proportion to the OBC population in these units, such as a district panchayat or a municipal corporation.
The Congress alleged the state government was committing injustice by giving just 27% when it could offer a much higher percentage.
