Cuttack, Sept. 17: The legality of Orissa Reservation of Posts and Services (For Socially and Educationally Backward Classes) Act, 2008, has for the first time come under judicial scrutiny.

A petition has challenged the act and Orissa High Court has sought a reply from the state government within two weeks.

The act takes the reservation quota in government jobs above the 50 per cent limit set by the Supreme Court.

In 2008, the Naveen Patnaik government had enacted the act, fixing the quota for socially and educationally backward classes (SEBC) in government jobs at 27 per cent. The act came into force on February 7, 2009, after it was notified in the gazette.

The state government had been facing difficulties in implementing the act due to legal tangles. Several legal cases have come up pertaining to recruitment of different jobs.

The petitioners have challenged the act on the ground that 27 per cent reservation for SEBC took the total reservation above the 50 per cent limit fixed by the Supreme Court.

Both the State Administrative Tribunal and the high court had expressed disinclination to make any observation on 27 per cent reservation for SEBC candidates on the ground that the new act had not been challenged before them.

Now, Rosalina Nath, a state civil service aspirant based in Bhubaneswar, has filed a petition challenging the act for the first time. The act “does not have the force of law” as it has not been included in the IXth Schedule of the Constitution, the petition contends.

The division bench of Chief Justice C. Nagappan and Justice Indrajit Mahanty has admitted the petition and issued notices to the state government to file a reply within two weeks.

Reservation of 27 per cent for SEBC increased the total reservation to 65.75 per cent in government jobs in the state as 16.25 per cent and 22.5 per cent had already been earmarked for SC and ST candidates following the Orissa Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Service (For Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe) Act, 1975.