At The Cost Of Other Poor Muslims? Justice Surya Kant On OBC Reservations For Pasmanda Muslims

The Supreme Court of India on Monday, 23 February, took up a Public Interest Litigation seeking Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation for Pasmanda Muslims and raised pointed questions on the evidentiary foundation of the demand before adjourning the matter to April 6, 2026.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi briefly heard the plea filed by Mohammad Waseem Saifi, which seeks a 10 per cent quota for Pasmanda Muslims through sub-categorisation within the OBC list, relying on the recommendations of the Ranganath Misra Commission.

Senior Advocate Anjana Prakash, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that Indian Muslims are broadly divided into three hierarchical groups — Ashraf, Ajlaf and Arzal. The Ajlaf and Arzal, collectively described as Pasmanda Muslims, account for nearly 80–85 per cent of the Muslim population but remain underrepresented in education, public employment and political participation, the court was told.

The CJI, however, expressed scepticism, asking whether the plea sought to advance one section of Muslims at the cost of other equally deprived groups and questioning the absence of quantifiable data. He asked how the court could assess the claim without figures on the total number of socially and educationally backward Muslims and on what basis such internal classifications could be judicially determined.

The petitioner sought tagging of the matter with the Constitution Bench case of State of Andhra Pradesh v. B. Archana Reddy, which concerns identification of a religious community as backward. The bench allowed a brief note responding to its queries. The plea also relies on the findings of the Sachar Committee.