HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Thursday said it would pronounce orders on Friday on a batch of petitions challenging the reduction of Backward Classes (BC) reservations in the upcoming Gram Panchayat elections.
Justice T Madhavi Devi, while hearing the petitions filed as lunch motions, stated that she would examine the extent to which the single judge bench could intervene, as a related matter on the same issue is already pending before a division bench of the Chief Justice. She added that interim orders would be passed wherever necessary and adjourned the hearing.
The petitions sought the quashing of the gazette notification issued on November 23 regarding reservations in Gram Panchayats.
Arguing for the petitioners, advocate Samala Ravinder contended that even 23 per cent reservations were not allocated to BCs in panchayat seats. In some districts, only 13 per cent reservation was provided. He pointed out that despite BCs being numerically higher than OC, SC and ST communities in many villages, they were allotted fewer seats.
As an example, he stated that in one village, the seat reserved for an ST woman in 2014 and a general category woman in 2019 has now been reserved for the SC category, even though BCs constitute the majority population there. He argued that this violated government orders and statutory schedule norms.
On behalf of the state government, special government pleader Rahul Reddy submitted that reservations were allocated strictly in accordance with the law and within the 50 percent cap.
Appearing for the Telangana State Election Commission, senior advocate G Vidyasagar stated that after allocating seats to SCs and STs on a population basis, the remaining seats within the 50 percent limit are to be allotted to BCs. He clarified that there is no statutory mandate to provide 23 percent reservation to BCs.