In a setback for the Nitish Kumar administration in Bihar, the Supreme Court has declined to stay the Patna High Court's decision, which invalidated the state's 65% quota for backward classes.

The Bihar government increased the quota from 50% to 65% for Backward Classes, Extremely Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes (SCs), and Scheduled Tribes (STs) following a caste survey conducted last year. This quota increase applied to both jobs and educational institutions within the state.

In its June 20 verdict, the high court declared that the amendments, which were unanimously passed by the state's bicameral legislature in November last year, were "ultra vires" of the Constitution, "bad in law," and "violative of the equality clause."

The high court emphasized that it saw "no extenuating circumstance enabling the state to breach" the 50% cap on reservations established by the Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney case.