Telangana HC asks government to constitute Commission for BC reservation

The Telangana High Court, on Wednesday, October 30, directed the state government to constitute an independent commission for determining reservation for backward classes. The state government recently issued an order, directing the Backward Classes Welfare Commission to assess socioeconomic and political representation across government and private sectors. The Commission on Tuesday began statewide public hearings as part of this exercise.

The state government, in September 2024, constituted the Commission and senior Congress leader G Niranjan was appointed as the Chairman. It was asked to determine the reservations for BC communities in local bodies after the enumeration of the percentage of backward class communities in the population. As per the GO, the BC Commission will assess socioeconomic and political representation for one month and submit its report.

Backward Classes leader and former MP R Krishnaiah had challenged the government order in the High Court. His counsel submitted to the court that entrusting the task to the BC Commission was a violation of the Supreme Court order. The court was also informed that a similar order issued in Maharashtra was struck down by the Bombay High Court. Krishnaiah’s counsel and former Advocate General BS Prasad submitted to the High Court that if a similar situation arises in Telangana after the Commission submits its report, this would lead to a waste of time. Hence, he sought orders to the government to constitute a special Commission.

The Congress had promised to implement 42% reservations for the Backward Classes in the Panchayat Raj elections. Krishnaiah recently wrote a letter to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to implement the poll promise. He said that the government cannot escape enhancement of reservations for BCs citing legal issues or the Supreme Court ceiling on 50% reservations. He said the Assembly can pass a resolution and implement 42% reservation in the local body elections, which has been a promise of the Congress.