The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to stay at this stage the Andhra Pradesh High Court judgment setting aside a G.O. transferring the Mudiraj community from Group ‘D' to Group ‘A' of Backward Classes.
A three-Judge Bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia, Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notice to the parties concerned on a batch of special leave petitions filed by the Andhra Pradesh Commission for Backward Classes and others challenging the High Court judgment.
When Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam appearing for the State prayed for stay of the judgment, the CJI told him: “Suppose we uphold the High Court judgment, we cannot put the clock back. We will issue notice on stay.” The Bench directed the matter to be listed for further hearing in July immediately after the summer vacation.
Acting on a batch of writ petitions filed by Rajaka Hakkula Sangham and others challenging the G.O dated February 19, 2009 issued by the government, the court held that it was not a valid classification and set aside the G.O.
Classification
The BC communities in the State were classified into A, B, C, D categories and quota fixed for each group for the purpose of reservation in employment and education. Under the G.O., the government ordered that Mudiraj community which was in ‘D' group be treated as one of the groups in ‘A' category. This was challenged on the ground that numerically a large group which was comparatively powerful would take away all the reservations meant for the BC castes in ‘A' group.
Assailing the High court judgment, the SLPs said that each of the four groups was entitled to equitable affirmative benefits from out of the total 25 per cent earmarked for A, B, C and D groups and that such benefits must have nexus with the population of the classes enumerated in each of the groups. The SLPs said that shifting from one group to the other was based on the materials available before the Backward Classes Commission by way of surveys or other published literature. There was no reason for any fresh study to be undertaken, they said and prayed for quashing the impugned judgment and an interim stay of its operation.
