HYDERABAD: A division bench of the High Court on Monday issued notices to the State government to respond to the PIL filed challenging the Telangana State Private Universities Act, 2018 providing 25 per cent of seats to students of the State for admission into courses in the private varsities.
The bench was dealing with a PIL filed by J Shankar and K Balakrishna Mudiraj, both research scholars from Osmania University, seeking to suspend the operation of Clause 33 of the Telangana State Private Universities (establishment and regulations) Act, 2018.
According to the petitioners’ counsel P Srikanth Chary, the reservation procedure in educational institutions and public employment was excessively governed by the Presidential Order, vide GOs 646 and 674 made under Article 371-D of Constitution of India, thereby, the State legislatures of both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were incompetent to make any laws regarding reservation in educational institutions.
The impugned Clause 33 of the Act was in complete violation of Part XI, Section 95 of the Andhra Pradesh States Reorganization Act, 2014 which protects the procedure and the percentage of the reservation to the local candidates of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh by virtue of Article 371-D.
After hearing the case, the bench issued notices to the principal secretary to higher education and principal secretary to law and legislative affairs, to respond to the plea and adjourned the case hearing by four weeks.