Telangana High Court stays 42% BC reservations in local body polls
Telangana High Court issued interim orders stopping the implementation process of the GO.
In a blow to Telangana government, the high court on Thursday stayed GO-9, which provides 42 percent reservation for Backward Classes (BCs) in local body elections, tv9 telugu reported.
The court has issued an interim stay on the election notification for local body elections, which was issued today and has ordered the government to file a counter within four weeks. It has given two weeks to the petitioners to file objections to the government's counters. The hearing on BC reservations has been adjourned for two weeks.
Petitioners B Madhav Reddy and Samudrala Ramesh filed a plea in the high court challenging the reservation and questioning the proportionality of 42 percent BC quota in local body elections.
Arguing for the petitioners on Wednesday, advocate Vivek Reddy said the government is implementing reservations against the rules.
"The Constitution says that reservations should not exceed 50 percent but the total has reached 67 percent with the 42 percent reservation given by the government to BCs. The report of the one-member commission constituted by the government regarding the census of BCs is also not transparent,” he argued.
Arguing for Telangana state government, senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Manu Sanghvi stated that except for the Supreme Court's order that the maximum limit of reservations should not exceed 50 percent, there is no provision in the Constitution anywhere that this limit has been imposed.