VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday reserved its judgment on a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging reservations provided to Backward Classes (BCs) in local body elections, alleging that they were fixed in violation of Supreme Court directions and without collecting adequate empirical data.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Lisa Gill and Justice Challa Gunaranjan passed the orders after hearing arguments on the petition filed by Dr Ch Ravikumar of Alapadu village in Chunduru mandal of Guntur district.
The petitioner contended that the government’s actions were causing injustice to BCs and sought a stay on the election process.
Counsel for the petitioner, Vivekananda Virupaksha, argued that the government had not made public the report of the dedicated commission headed by retired IAS officer Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, constituted on the basis of the Integrated Family Survey data. Though the State government had recently approved the Rajiv Ranjan report, it had neither disclosed its contents nor invited public objections, he submitted.