OBC quota in UP civic body polls: It will take 6 months to complete 'triple test' process, says panel chairman

A day after the Uttar Pradesh government appointed a commission on quota to the OBC in urban local body polls, its chairman Justice (retd) Ram Avtar Singh on Thursday said it will take six months to prepare reservation draft following the 'triple test' formula prescribed by the Supreme Court.

"The triple test process will be completed for the reservation of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) as per Supreme Court guidelines on the prescribed procedure. This process will take about six months," Justice (retd) Singh told reporters here.

The Uttar Pradesh government had on Wednesday appointed the five-member commission, a day after the Allahabad High Court quashed its draft poll notification.


The 'triple test' formula requires setting up of a commission to hold a 'rigorous empirical inquiry' into the nature of 'backwardness' in the context of the local bodies, specifying the proportion of reservation based on the commission's recommendations, and not exceeding the overall 50 per cent quota limit.

Justice (retd) Singh is a 1976-batch judicial officer. He was promoted to the Higher Judicial Service in 1991. He became a justice of the Allahabad High Court in 2009 and retired in 2011.

The four other members of the panel are retired Indian Administrative Service officers Chaub Singh Verma and Mahendra Kumar, and former legal advisors to the state Santosh Kumar Viskarma and Brajesh Kumar Soni.

A notification on the panel's constitution, issued by the Urban Development department, said the commission's term would be for a six-month period from the day of taking charge.

The panel's constitution comes a day after the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court quashed the state government's draft notification on urban local body elections and ordered it to hold the polls without reservation for the OBCs.