Telangana prepares to put forth strong arguments in SC

Hyderabad: With the Telangana government’s decision to enhance reservation for Backward Classes to 42 per cent challenged in the Supreme Court, the state government has initiated steps to put forth strong arguments.

Deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, ministers Ponnam Prabhakar and Vakiti Srihari, who rushed to Delhi on Sunday night, held talks with senior lawyers Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Siddharth Dave on Monday.

Singhvi, who is also a Rajya Sabha member from Telangana and Dave are likely to appear on behalf of the state government in the Supreme Court and defend the move to provide 42 per cent reservations to Backward Classes (BCs) in local bodies.

Government lawyer Shravan Kumar and Congress BC Cell chairman Anil Jaihind also attended the meeting. The Deputy CM and ministers explained to the lawyers that the government issued the GO for 42 per cent reservations for BCs in local bodies by duly following the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court.

They also told the lawyers that the GO was issued after conducting the caste survey, obtaining the empirical data of the BCs, appointment of a dedicated BC Commission and expert group’s analysis of the caste survey report. The Supreme Court is set to take up for hearing a batch of petitions challenging the Government Order.

The petitions were filed by Reddy Jagruthi leader B Madhava Reddy and Vanga Gopal Reddy, who are scheduled for a hearing by a bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta.

The petitioners argued that the GO is anti-constitutional and in violation of the Supreme Court’s fixed 50 per cent cap on reservations.

They also claimed that the GO violates the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act of 2018. Similar petitions were also filed in the Telangana High Court, and the hearing is scheduled on October 8.

The State Election Commission last week announced the schedule for elections to rural local bodies. The elections will be held in five phases in October-November.

Meanwhile, deputy chief cinister Bhatti Vikramarka told media persons in Delhi that they are confident that the Supreme Court would uphold the GO.

He said in the Indira Sahini case, the Supreme Court had ruled that reservations beyond 50 per cent may be provided based on empirical data.

Transport minister Ponnam Prabhakar said an attempt was being made to block the 42 per cent reservation for BCs. He appealed to the petitioners to withdraw the petitions as 42 per cent reservations for BCs will not harm the reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Economically Weaker Sections.