Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday asserted that his Government was committed to ensuring implementation of enhanced reservation for Muslims, Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes as it was a major step in overcoming discrimination being faced by these communities and giving them representation proportionate to their population in the State.
“I am not hoping that things will happen overnight as the legislation enhancing quota for Muslims and STs will have procedural aspects involved in it. It has to go to the Home department and from there to the Law department. Scrutiny of the legislation by the Union Government is inevitable and they might raise queries on the issue,” he said. He was replying to queries during the passage of the Bill enhancing the quota for Muslims from 4 % to 12 % and STs from 6 % to 10 % in the special session of the Legislative Assembly on Sunday.
Other states
The Chief Minister said the Government was committed to ensuring the implementation of the enhanced reservation over and above the existing cap of 50 % as several States were already implementing similar legislation. “I will not beg and I am determined to fight it out. The TRS will raise the issue in Parliament and make the voice of these sections heard at the national level if the Prime Minister and Union Cabinet do not give their concurrence,” he averred.
“There may be some complications and it may take time. But our determined effort will yield fruit,” he said adding that the Government had prepared the current legislation based on the Tamil Nadu’s Act and the Central Government could not deny the benefit to the State.
“We will approach the Supreme Court, if need be, seeking a direction to the Centre to allow implementation of the promise,” he said.
Validity
Replying to doubts raised on the constitutional validity of the legislation at a time when there was a cap of 50 % fixed on reservations, he quoted the Supreme Court’s observation that quota could exceed 50 % of the appointments or the posts by making out a case showing existence of extraneous circumstances for exceeding the limit. In another judgment, the Supreme Court had laid down that if a State wanted reservations to exceed 50 %, it was required to base its decision on the quantifiable data, the Chief Minister explained.
To another query on enhancing the quota for other sub-groups in the Backward Classes, he said the Government faced a peculiar situation as quantification and justification of the groups in BCs was problem.
BC classification
“Given the multiplicity of the groups and complexities involved in the process, the Government had called for reports on the composition of Backward Classes, most backward classes and communities covered under the BC list. Orders had been issued to district Collectors to furnish the data to the BC Commission as and when required,” he said.
When doubts were raised by the MIM members over the scope for legal hurdles, he said the Government had made sure that the existing 4% reservation for Muslims would remain undisturbed as it would come under the 50 % cap. “We are in touch with legal luminaries to counter the possible scope for legal hurdles,” he said.
