Mumbai, Nov. 25 -- Ahead of a crucial judgement in the Supreme Court dealing with reservations in local bodies, one that could decide whether elections for such bodies scheduled to begin December 2 can go ahead, it emerges that the state's decision to breach the 50% ceiling on reservation, was based on an opinion from the Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta. In the letter, a copy of which has been seen by HT, addressed to Maharashtra State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare and dated June 2, Mehta opined that local body elections in the state can be held where the 27% quota for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) is maintained even in those constituencies where the 50% reservation ceiling is breached when the OBC reservation is combined with reservations for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes. The Supreme Court is hearing over 15 petitions on reservation cap in Maharashtra, with some claiming the breach is significant in some districts, and is likely to give an order on Tuesday. The Solicitor General is appearing for the state. Maharashtra is going for crucial local body polls after a gap of seven years. Twenty-nine municipal corporations including the Brihannamumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), 32 district councils or zilla parishads, 246 municipal councils and 42 nagar panchayats that govern smaller cities will go to the polls in three phases beginning December 2. Urban and rural local bodies drew their reservations on the basis of a letter sent by the Urban and Rural Development Departments to the Directorate of Municipal Administration and district administrations, referring to the SG's June 2 letter to the state election commission. When contacted by HT, the SEC Dinesh Waghmare, said they had sought the solicitor general's opinion after the May 6 order by the SC. "We sought the advice to keep uniformity in the decision related to reservation in all the bodies. The reservation for some of the bodies like municipal councils and nagar panchayats is decided by the government while SEC has powers for some bodies like district councils and municipal corporations. The solicitor general had opined for a flat 27% quota to OBCs in all bodies without any ceiling of 50%," he said. At present, 44 municipal councils, two municipal corporations, 32 district councils and 11 panchayats have breached the cap of 50% reservation. The confusion arises from the fact that on May 6, while pushing the state to conduct local body polls, the SC said that reservation shall be provided to the OBCs as per the law as it existed in Maharashtra prior to the 2022 report of the Banthia Commission. But that seems to have been misinterpreted to suggest that it was alright to breach the 50% ceiling. The problem arises from the fact that prior to the Banthia Commission report of 2022, 27% was the stipulated OBC quota across the state except in so-called Tribal Notified Areas where it was lower (to ensure the 50% ceiling was not breached). The uniform reservation of 27% for OBCs even in Tribal Notified Areas (where there is 12% reservation for SCs and 14-24% reservation for STs, depending on the district) has meant breaching the 50% cap. In a hearing last week, the Supreme Court took strong objections to the breach, saying its May 6 order was misinterpreted. If this was not corrected, it would stay the elections, the court warned. After the Solicitor General's letter, the state Urban Development Department on June 16, wrote to the municipal council administration directorate saying: "The reservation to the OBCs should be ascertained as per the Solicitor General's letter to the SEC." Similar letters were sent to divisional commissioners, municipal commissioners for the reservation in district council, panchayat samitis and municipal corporations. Following the solicitor general's letter, the rural development department issued notification on June 13 for the direct appointment of the sarpanchs of the gram panchayats. The reservation to the sarpanch elections was breached 50% cap in 15 districts in the state....