HC annuls Raje govt’s OBC panel

Jaipur, October 20

The Rajasthan High Court has annulled the Vasundhra Raje government’s Other Backward Class (OBC) Commission, which was formed on administrative order, and ordered it to constitute a new body by bringing legislation by January 15, 2017.

In its judgment on a petition of Samata Andolan Samiti on Wednesday, a Division Bench issued interim order and also directed the state government to disburse “no salary or allowances of members hereafter”.

The Bench has found that the OBC panel headed by chairman Jitendra Rai Goyal, Hari Kumar Godara as Member Secretary and Members Sitaram Sharma and Arjun Singh Bhati was “illegal and unconstitutional”. In its previous hearings, the state government was asked to give the commission a legal framework but it was being delayed.

It observed that the state government has incurred an expenditure of Rs 60 lakh since August 2015 on the commission. — OC