SC refuses Telangana plea on 42 pc for BC reservation in local bodies

In a setback to the Telangana government, the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed its petition challenging a High Court order that stayed a government order providing 42 per cent reservation to Backward Classes in local bodies. “You continue with your elections with the same reservation that existed. Dismissed,” a bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said.

The Congress government in Telangana had issued the government order (GO) on September 26 to provide 42 per cent reservation to Backward Classes in local bodies. The State government had challenged in the apex court the October 9 order of the Telangana High Court, which had issued an interim stay on the GO.

While dismissing the plea, the bench said its order shall not affect the high court in deciding the petitions pending before it on its own merits. The high court had passed the order on petitions that said the GO had raised the total reservation in local bodies to 67 per cent.

The petitioners had told the high court that the GO breached the 50 per cent ceiling on



quota laid down by the top court in its verdicts. The high court, while hearing the petitions challenging the GO, had directed the State to file its reply in four weeks.

During the hearing on Thursday, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Telangana, told the top court that the State was “very heavily aggrieved” by the high court’s interim order.

“You continue with the elections,” the bench observed. One of the advocates appearing in the matter said the high court had not stayed the elections.

“This is a policy decision of a state which wants to inform, educate, and enlighten itself and then make all policies targeted to what it believes are a very heavy percentage of Backward Classes,” Singhvi argued.

He also said how can the GO be stayed without pleadings. Singhvi said barring the last two pages, no reasons were given by the high court for the stay. “It is not your case that there is no reservation. There is a reservation. You are increasing the percentage of reservation,” the bench said.