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Mumbai, March 03
The Andhra Pradesh high court on March 2, Monday, dismissed the government order to provide 59.85 per cent reservations to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes in the local body elections in the state. The polls are scheduled for March, Hindustan Times reported.
The division bench of the high court, headed by chief justice Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari and judge Naina Jayasurya, held that the total percentage of reservation in the local body polls should not exceed 50 per cent, as per the Supreme Court order. HC order was reserved on February 7 last month.
A government order in November last year reserved 34 per cent for OBCs, 19.08 per cent for SCs and 6.77 per cent for STs in the state election.
The high court ordered the government to reallot the reserved percentage to marginalized sections by keeping in mind that it cannot go beyond 50 per cent. The high court expects the government to do this within a month so that the state can go for the election after four weeks.
The case reached Andhra high court after B Pratap Reddy filed public interest litigation (PIL) with SC challenging reservation of seats in local body elections. SC, in turn, referred the case to Andhra high court, as per media reports.
The court dismissed the argument put forth by Advocate General S Subrahmanyam that the state government can think of increasing the quota for the marginalized sections under special circumstances. The bench maintained that there are no exceptional circumstances in the state now.
State municipal administration minister Botsa Satyanarayana assured that the government will comply by order of the high court and would conduct the election within a month, HT report added.
Satyanarayana slammed Telugu Desam Party led by N Chandrababu Naidu for the judgment. He alleged that the petitioner -- Reddy -- is a TDP sympathizer and does not want the quota to be increased for SCs, STs, and OBCs.
He also said that Naidu does not stand by the rights of the weaker sections of society. He deliberately made Reddy filed a petition to “stall the hike in quota,” as per media reports.
While TDP spokesperson and former MLA Bonda Umamaheshwar Rao said the YSRCP government had intentionally brought in the increased quota for marginalised sections only to attract votes, despite knowing that the order would be rejected in the court of law, HT report added.
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