The Supreme Court on Friday heard a batch of petitions seeking modifications to guidelines governing issuance of Other Backward Class (OBC) certificates, particularly for children raised by single mothers belonging to the OBC category.

Counsel for the petitioners argued that while similar benefits are already available for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) categories, children of OBC single mothers are often denied caste certificates unless the father’s caste is considered.

The petitioner submitted that the guidelines should be amended to allow such children to obtain OBC certificates based on their mother’s caste, particularly in cases involving single mothers, divorcees, widows, or inter-caste marriages.

During the hearing, the Bench noted that several complex situations arise in caste determination cases, including inter-caste marriages and questions of social upbringing. The Court observed:

“There may be widows, divorcees, inter-caste marriages, inter-religion marriages… all these issues will arise.”

The Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi also indicated that different factual situations, such as children raised in the father’s social environment in inter-caste marriages, may require careful examination before extending caste-based benefits.

As counsel requested that some matters be de-tagged due to differing factual issues, the Court declined to separate them immediately, observing that many of the questions were overlapping and could be considered together.

The Court directed parties to complete pleadings and file replies, stating that arguments should not proceed piecemeal.