Telangana HC stays 42 pc Backward Class quota in local bodies

Hyderabad: In a setback to the Telangana government, the State High Court on Thursday granted stay on Government Order (GO), providing 42 per cent reservation to Backward Classes in local bodies across the state.

In its interim order on petitions challenging the GO, the High Court stayed operation of the GO till further orders.

The court also stayed the notification for local body elections in the state.

The division bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin pronounced its orders after hearing the arguments for two days.

It adjourned further hearing on the case for six weeks.

The bench directed the state government and State Election Commission to file comprehensive counter affidavits in four weeks.

It gave two weeks to the petitioners to file their response.

The court order has put on hold the process for rural local body elections.

The notification for the first phase of polls was issued on Thursday.

The State Election Commission is likely to make an announcement about electoral process after going through the court order.

B. Madhava Reddy and S. Ramesh had already filed petitions in the High Court, challenging GO, which provided 42 per cent reservations for Backward Classes in the local bodies.

The petitioners challenged the validity of the GO on the ground that it violates Supreme Court order in the Indra Sawhney case, which capped the vertical reservations to 50 per cent.

“With the Telangana government increasing reservations to Backward Classes from 25 to 42 per cent, the total reservations (including the reservations of 15 per cent to Scheduled Castes and 10 per cent to Scheduled Tribes), the total reservations reached 67 per cent. This amounts to breaching the 50 per cent cap fixed by the apex court,” the counsels for the petitioners said.

Advocate General A. Sudarshan Reddy had submitted that the state government had already amended Section 285-A of the Panchayat Raj Act to enhance the Backward Classes reservation.

However, the petitioner’s counsel said the Governor Jishnu Dev Varma had not yet given consent to the two Bills passed by the Telangana Assembly, which amended the Panchayat Raj Act.

Some political leaders approached the High Court, seeking to implead in the case in support of the Backward Class quota.

CPI MLA K. Sambasiva Rao, BJP MP R. Krishnaiah, Congress leaders Charan Kaushik and Indira Shobhan and others filed the petitions.

Senior Congress leader V. Hanumanth Rao, former IAS officer Chiranjeevulu, Telangana Fisheries Corporation chairman Mettu Sai Kumar and Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) member R. Laxman Yadav also filed petitions, seeking to implead in support of Backward Class reservation.

IANS