The West Bengal Assembly passed two Bills Monday (June 29) to amend reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The two Bills — The West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts (Amendment) Bill, 2026, and The West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes (Amendment) Bill, 2026 — is in line with a 2024 order of the Calcutta High Court.The Bills struck down the inclusion of several sub-castes in the category of OBCs after 2010. Now, the OBC reservation in the state will now be 7% instead of 17%, and the number of sub-castes would be 66, down from 179. So, OBC reservation and inclusion of Muslim sub-castes in the state, which started from the Left Front regime and continued further during the previous Trinamool Congress government, has been removed after the BJP came to power this May.Here’s what to know about the history of OBC reservation in West Bengal, what the Calcutta High Court ordered in 2024, and the differences in approach between the TMC and BJP governments.In 1993, when OBC reservation began in West Bengal, there were 66 sub-castes in this category — 54 were Hindu and 12 were Muslim sub-castes. But by the late 2000s, the Left Front government faced rising anti-incumbency, particularly among Muslims.After the Sachar Committee report (2006), the then Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee revised his OBC reservation policy. With the 2011 Assembly election in mind, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led government issued seven executive orders between March 5 and September 10, 2010, to declare 42 new classes as OBCs: 41 of them belonged to the Muslim community, which enhanced OBC reservation from 7% to 17%.Of this, 10% was earmarked for the “Most Backward” caste groups. Muslims constituted the bulk of this category, which was named OBC-A. The remaining 7% came to be known as OBC-B.Also read | Religion as sole factor: Why Calcutta HC quashed OBC quota for MuslimsAfter assuming power in 2011, TMC’s Mamata Banerjee further increased this OBC list in 2012 by including more sub-castes — mostly Muslims. With the inclusion of sub-castes during the Trinamool regime, the total number of additional sub-castes reached 179 — from the original 66.Story continues below this adThe state government justified this expansion based on socio-economic surveys conducted by the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes (WBCBC), though the methodology and rigour of these surveys became contested. Critics argued that the surveys lacked adequate empirical foundation, relied excessively on political representations, and failed to apply the creamy layer principle systematically.Calcutta High Court’s 2024 orderThe controversy started during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, when the Calcutta High Court cancelled all OBC certificates issued by the West Bengal government since 2010. The court was hearing a PIL petition challenging provisions of the West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts Act, 2012.In its order dated May 22, 2024, the Division Bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Rajashekhar Mantha said that “religion indeed appears to have been the sole criterion” for granting OBC status to 77 communities. The Bench, however, clarified that citizens with OBC certificates who are already in service, or have availed the benefit of reservation or succeeded in any selection process of the state, will not be affected by the order.The court also noted that the West Bengal government committed “fraud on the Constitutional power of the State” by enacting the 2012 legislation and excluding the Commission’s role in identification of new OBCs.How TMC government reactedStory continues below this adHours after the judgment, CM Mamata Banerjee said she will not accept the order and that OBC reservation will continue in the state. On June 2, 2025, the state Cabinet — after recommendations from WBCBC — gave approval to include 76 new castes to the OBC list’s existing 64 ethnic groups. Of the 76, 35 were OBC-A whereas the remaining 41 were OBC-B.NewsletterFollow our daily newsletter so you never miss anything important. On Wednesday, we answer readers' questions.SubscribeBanerjee, while laying out WBCBC’s interim report in the state Assembly, refuted allegations that the list of OBC categories was made on the basis of religion. “We made the new list of OBC-A and OBC-B on the basis of a scientific benchmark survey conducted by the Commission and included those communities who are backward,” she said.The BJP’s stanceWhile introducing the two new Bills, West Bengal Minister for Backward Classes Welfare Gaurishankar Ghosh said Monday that the BJP government was acting in accordance with the High Court directions and said there were no political motives behind the amendments. “We have removed 113 classes included earlier without conducting any field survey, and retained 66 sub-classes, which were included following various surveys,” Ghosh said.“This is not to deprive any community or sub-castes (of any benefits). If the Commission for Backward Classes recommends the inclusion of any sub-caste in the OBC category, the government would consider it by following all guidelines,” he added.