The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Friday struck down the 2019 law enacted by the then Kamal Nath-led Congress government that raised reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) to 27 per cent, calling it unconstitutional and contrary to the 50 per cent ceiling laid down by the Supreme Court.Observing that there were no extraordinary circumstances to justify the increase, the high court restored the quota to 14 per cent in the state.In its 159-page order, a division bench of Justices Anand Pathak and Vinay Saraf said the amendment lacked adequate preparation and was passed in “undue haste”, with drafting errors reflecting the government’s “ill-preparedness”.It declared the amendment “ultra vires to the constitutional provisions” and contrary to the 50 per cent ceiling laid down by the Supreme Court.The bench observed that the case concerned the extent of reservation, not the entitlement of OBCs to reservation.It held that the available data on higher education and public services showed that OBCs were adequately represented and that there was no case for increasing their quota from 14 to 27 per cent.“No extraordinary conditions or emergent situations exist” to justify exceeding the ceiling, the court observed, referring to the Supreme Court’s judgments in the Indra Sawhney and Jaishri Laxmanrao Patil cases.The court struck down the Madhya Pradesh ordinance of 2019 and the subsequent amendment enacted by the then Kamal Nath-led Congress government, which had raised OBC reservation in public services and higher education.The bench also directed Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission (MPPSC), Employees Selection Board and other recruitment agencies to fill the 13 per cent of posts kept on hold (after legal challenge to quota hike law) from the unreserved category within three months.The order clarified that OBC candidates appointed against the enhanced quota between March 2019 and September 29, 2022, would retain their jobs and would not be removed. The posts occupied by these candidates in excess of the 14 per cent quota would be adjusted in the next three recruitment drives.The court said appointments made after September 29, 2022, had been restricted to 87 per cent of the posts, with the remaining 13 per cent kept pending until the outcome of the litigation. Those posts must now be filled from the unreserved category.Advocate General Prashant Singh, representing the state government, said the court delivered its verdict after examining documents, data and tables.He noted the dispute involved the increase in OBC reservation from 14 per cent earlier to 27 per cent in 2019 in government jobs and education, not the quota for backward communities itself.The Kamal Nath-led Congress government, which was in power in MP from December 2018 to March 2020, had increased OBC reservation from 14 per cent to 27 per cent through an ordinance on March 8, 2019, which became a law on August 14 that year itself.The move was challenged in the high court, and the matter subsequently came before the Supreme Court before being sent back to the Madhya Pradesh High Court for a joint hearing and decision on the connected petitions.The final hearing in a clutch of petitions concluded on August 5 this year, after which the bench reserved its verdict.Meanwhile, state Congress president Jitu Patwari said his party would continue its fight for 27 per cent OBC reservation.He accused the BJP government and Chief Minister Mohan Yadav of conspiring against OBCs and asserted the Congress would challenge the high court verdict in the Supreme Court.The OBC Mahasabha expressed disappointment with the ruling.Lokendra Gurjar, a member of its national core committee and a petitioner in the case, said the organisation would challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court and launch a state-wide agitation to protect the rights of OBCs.Former Madhya Pradesh State Backward Classes Commission chairman JP Dhanopia alleged the ruling resulted from the state government’s “ill intentions”.He claimed the government had failed to present the facts effectively before the court, depriving the OBCs of the benefits of 27 per cent reservation.