The Supreme Court (SC) has dismissed a plea by the Telangana government challenging a High Court order that stayed the implementation of a 42% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in local body elections. The decision was delivered on Thursday by a bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta.

The Telangana government had challenged an interim order by the Telangana High Court, which put a halt to the state's decision to increase OBC reservations in local bodies to 42%. This increase would have raised the overall reservation in the state's local bodies to 67%. The High Court's initial stay order followed the passing of the Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2025, and the Telangana Municipalities (Amendment) Bill, 2025, in August.

Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing the Telangana government, argued that the Supreme Court's nine-judge bench ruling in the Indira Sawhney case allows for flexibility in exceptional circumstances, permitting reservations to exceed 50%. Singhvi contended that Telangana had conducted a meticulous, year-long household socio-economic survey to justify the increase, asserting that the triple-test conditions were met and that the Bill and Ordinance were in operation. He also argued that the state has the authority to decide reservations, citing a comprehensive socio-economic caste survey conducted at the household level.

However, the Supreme Court was not convinced. Justice Mehta noted that the Gawali judgment did not allow reservations to exceed 50% in general areas. The bench clarified that reservations cannot exceed 50% in general areas, even under the triple-test, echoing previous verdicts in the Krishnamurthy case. The court stated that it could not take a view inconsistent with the Supreme Court judgment that has fixed the reservation ceiling at 50 per cent.

The Supreme Court ultimately dismissed the petition, allowing the local body elections, which commenced on October 9, to proceed under existing quotas. Justice Nath stated, "You may continue with your elections [without reservations] dismissed". The Supreme Court's decision does not prevent the High Court from deciding the case on its merits.

The High Court's initial stay order was issued on October 9, placing a six-week interim stay on Government Order MS 9, which had enhanced the OBC reservation in local bodies from 25% to 42%. The petitioners before the Telangana High Court had argued that increasing the OBC reservation from 25% to 42% would result in an overall reservation of 67% in the state, exceeding the 50% ceiling on vertical reservations established by the SC in the Indra Sawhney and K Krishna Murthy cases. The court also stayed government order no 9, and consequential government orders no 41 and 42 in this regard.

The Telangana Government's order to increase OBC reservations was issued on September 26, based on which the state election commission issued the notification and schedule for the local body polls, to be held in five phases between October and November. States like Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh had also faced rejection of increased reservations by the apex court.