Telangana High Court stays government order on 42% quota to BCs in local body polls

The argument presented by the counsels for the petitioners is that the Government Order (GO) breaches the 50 per cent upper ceiling on total reservations.

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Thursday issued an interim order staying, for four weeks, a government order that provided 42 per cent reservation to Backward Classes (BCs) in local bodies.

Following the HC interim order, Telangana State Election Commission has decided to suspend the election notification until further orders. SEC on Thursday night issued orders in this regard.

The notification for the upcoming Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC), Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) seats, and Panchayats elections was based on the enhanced quota for BCs.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin, after hearing a batch of petitions over two days challenging the state government’s order raising the BC quota, directed the government to submit its reply within four weeks.

The Congress government in Telangana had recently issued Government Order (GO) No. 9, allotting 42 percent reservations for BCs in local body elections.

“Four weeks' time is allowed for the state (government) to file a counter affidavit. Petitioners are allowed two weeks thereafter to file a reply, if so advised. In the meantime, there shall be an interim stay of the impugned notification,” the Chief Justice stated.

GO No. 9, which sought to implement 42 per cent reservation for BCs in both rural and urban local bodies, was challenged by Buttembare Madhav Reddy and Samudrala Ramesh. They argued the move breached the 50 percent ceiling on total reservations, as laid down by the Supreme Court.

Supporting the government’s stance, BC leaders including Rajya Sabha member R Krishnaiah and V Hanumanth Rao filed implead petitions, contending that the enhanced quota was justified due to the substantial BC population in Telangana.

Advocate General (AG) A Sudarshan Reddy told the court that the Telangana Legislative Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution for 42 percent reservations for BCs, citing their political backwardness and findings from a comprehensive, scientific caste survey conducted across the state.

Senior counsel K Vivek Reddy, leading arguments for the petitioners, maintained that the government order exceeded the Supreme Court-mandated 50 percent ceiling on political reservations, with no exception granted for BCs. He also asserted that the GO violates the “Triple Test” specified by the Supreme Court.

The government’s decision raised the BC reservation from 24 percent to 42 percent, including 15 percent reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 10 percent for Scheduled Tribes (STs), raising the total reservation quota to 67 percent.

According to the Telangana State Election Commission’s notification, nominations for the first phase of MPTC and ZPTC polls could have been filed from Thursday, with polling scheduled for October 23.

Counting of votes for all phases was planned for November 11. The notification for the second phase was to be issued on October 13, with polling on October 27. The Commission had announced a five-phase schedule for rural local body elections from October to November.

Telangana BJP State President N Ramchander Rao alleged that the Congress government must take full responsibility for the High Court stay on GO No. 9. Speaking to the media at the party office, he said the stay resulted from the Congress government's negligence and lack of sincerity. He demanded that the Congress government approach the Supreme Court immediately to protect BC interests and rectify legal shortcomings.