Reservations: Andhra CM hits back

The Andhra Pradesh government will reconstitute the Backward Classes Commission to consider inclusion of Muslims in the BC list for reservations in educational institutions and the public sector, Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy said on Wednesday.

The government will abide by the AP high court's decision on Tuesday to quash the government order issued in July 2004 providing five per cent reservations for Muslims through their inclusion in the list of BCs, the CM said.

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As per the HC's order, the government will take steps to reconstitute the BC Commission within three months to get its opinion on the issue of reservations. The government will also request the panel to submit its report within six months.

Regarding the issue of evolving the criteria for the creamy layer while considering Muslims as backward classes, Dr Reddy said that a Cabinet subcommittee had already been constituted to look into the aspect with regard to all backward classes.

"There is no clear-cut formula on determining creamy layer in the state. At the Centre, Rs 2.5 lakh annual income ceiling has been fixed for defining creamy layer. We may adopt the same pattern. The Cabinet subcommittee will go into all these aspects," he added.

He said that the Congress sought to fulfill its poll promise of providing five per cent reservations to Muslims by issuing the GO on July 12. "We knew that report from BC Commission had to be taken, but we had obtained a report from the Commissionerate of Minorities Welfare in a bid to save time and pass on the benefits to the minority students this academic year itself."

He blamed the previous Telugu Desam Party government for not obtaining a report from the BC Commission, which was appointed by the Congress regime in January 1994. "The previous government had spent Rs 2.71 crore on the BC Commission (headed by retired Justice K S Puttuswamy) but it failed to obtain a report on the inclusion of Muslims and 13 other castes in the list of BCs," he added.

He recalled that the Congress government headed by Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy had issued a GO for inclusion of Muslims and 13 other castes in the list. The government had also referred the issue to the BC Commission. However, the TDP regime ignored the matter. "When we took action for the welfare of minorities, they are now finding fault with us," he said.

Referring to the court ruling's implications, Dr Reddy said as many as 6,990 Muslim students would have to forego free seats in government and private professional colleges on account of non-implementation of the five per cent reservations from this academic year. "Muslim boys and girls will be losing 162 medical and dental seats, 147 B Pharma, 3,422 engineering, 607 MBA, 679 MCA, 438 law and 1,697 B Ed seats in the current academic year."

The CM said that his government's stand was vindicated because the court, in its judgment, clearly stated that there was need for reservation for backward sections of Muslims. He said that in extraordinary situations, overall reservations could exceed the 50 per cent ceiling and perhaps the state government had failed to argue its case convincingly before the court. He said that enactment of a Bill instead of issuance of a GO would not have made any difference.