Cuttack: Orissa High Court has held that the state government can breach the upper limit of 50 per cent reservation of seats for scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and backward classes for election to various local bodies in exceptions like scheduled areas, which come under the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act.

The act is a law enacted for ensuring self-governance through traditional gram sabhas for people living in the scheduled areas (tribal areas) of the country.

The court gave the ruling while considering a petition seeking intervention in the matter of ratio of reservation adopted by the state government for conducting election to the local self-government.

One Subash Chandra Biswal filed the petition citing the case of reservation seats for election of members for the Rengali panchayat samiti. Out of 16 seats, reservation for the SC, ST and the OBC was made in respect of 15 gram panchayats, and thereby the percentage of reservation was to the extent of 93.75 per cent, which is much more beyond the ceiling limit of 50 per cent fixed by the Supreme Court.

The division bench of Chief Justice Vineet Saran and Justice B.R. Sarangi observed that the Supreme Court order "is binding on all concerned and the same, having been considered to be the law of the land, should be implemented in letter and spirit", and in case the state government is allowed to breach the upper limit of 50 per cent in the reservations, so far as the SC, ST and the OBC are concerned, "the said action would be unconstitutional".

However, the bench in its April 18 order said: "In the above view of the matter, the state government is directed to act upon in compliance of the Supreme Court ceiling order on reservation in letter and spirit and see that the upper limit of reservation of seats in respect of the SC, ST and the OBC should not exceed 50 per cent, of course subject to the exception provided in the PESA Act and other similar provisions applicable to the case."

It also endorsed the contention of the advocate general that the PESA Act provides for 100 per cent reservation for the scheduled tribes in scheduled areas and, therefore, the normal rule of 50 per cent reservation of all categories is subject to exceptions.