AP, TS quota plans to exceed 50% cap
S. Sriram, senior advocate who had appeared in the Muslim reservations case during the Congress regime, said that to give reservation to a particular group or groups the state government has to first constitute the Backward Classes Commission to enquire into the backwardness of the caste for which the reservation is to be given, and then make a law-based on the recommendation of the commission for extending the reservation to the particular community.
He said that if a state government wants to exceed the 50 per cent cap, it must show the extraordinary circumstances and extraordinary material to prove its case.
He said the state government also has to seek concurrence from the Union of India to validate the extended quota by Parliament through Article 31 (B) of the Constitution, including it in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution.
He said that the concept of reservations comes under Article 15 (4) and 16 (4) of the Constitution.
Articles 330 and 335 of the Constitution stipulate that the reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will be in proportion to their population, Mr Sriram said, but Backward Classes reservation does not have to be in proportion to their population. He said even if Parliament incorporates the Marathas Reservation Bill in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution, it cannot escape judicial scrutiny. The Telangana Rashtra Samiti which had promised 12 per cent reservation for Muslims during the 2014 election, passed the Bill to give 12 per cent quota for socially and economically backward Muslims in educational institutions and government jobs, on April 16,
2017 in a special session of the Assembly.
At present, the total percentage of reservations in Telangana is 50, including four per cent reservations for the Muslims under the BC-E category.
If the Telangana state government provides 12 per cent reservation, the percentage of total reservations will reach 58 per cent, and if the government decides on nine per cent, the total reservations will reach 55 per cent.
The Telangana government has forwarded the Muslim Reservation Bill to the Centre with a request to incorporate it in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution.
Similarly, in December
2017, the Telugu Desam, which had promised reservation for the Kapu community in the 2014 polls, unanimously passed the Kapu Reservation Bill 2017 to provide five per cent quota in education and employment to the Kapu community and forwarded it to the Centre. This would push the total reservation in the state to 55 per cent.
The Centre has rejected the requests of the AP and Telangana governments on the grounds that reservations in both states would cross the maximum limit of 50 per cent.
The AP and Telangana governments have demanded that the Union government get parliament amend Article 16(4) of the Constitution which deals with reservations to the Backward Classes, and include the Kapu community in AP and the Scheduled Tribes and Muslims in Telangana.
Despite his strained relations with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu recently assured the Kapu community that he would make every effort to ensure that the Reservation Bill be included in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution after the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.
Following the announcement of reservations for Marathas in Maharashtra, MIM chief Asaduddin Owasi said his party will move court demanding quota for Muslims in education and jobs in Maharashtra and TS.