High Court strikes down Quota for weaker sections in local body Polls

On Monday, the High Court of Andhra Pradesh evening struck down a Govt order providing 59.85% reservations to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes & Other Backward Classes in the local body elections in the state, which are scheduled to be held later this month.

A division bench of the High Court, comprising Chief Justice Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari & Justice Nainala Jayasurya, ruled that the total percentage of reservations in the local bodies should not exceed 50%, as per the Apex Court directions in the past.

A Govt. order in Nov fixed 34 per cent reservations for OBCs, 19.08 per cent for SCs & 6.77 per cent for STs. The order was challenged by B Pratap Reddy through a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea filed in Apex Court last month. The Supreme Court, in turn, referred the PIL to the High Court of Andhra Pradesh.

The HC ordered that the Govt come out with a fresh pattern of reservations for the weaker sections not exceeding the upper limit of 50% fixed by the SC within a month & take up the election process after 4 weeks.

The court didn't agree with the contention of Advocate General S Subrahmanyam that the State Govt could increase the quota beyond 50% under special circumstances.

The Bench observed that “There are no special circumstances in the state now".

State municipal administration minister Botsa Satyanaryana said the Govt. would abide by the high court verdict that reservations should not exceed 50 per cent & would go ahead to complete the election process to the local bodies within a month.

He, however, blamed it on the Telugu Desam Party led by N Chandrababu Naidu for the judgment. He alleged that the petitioner was a TDP sympathiser & the opposition did not want increased quota for SCs, STs & OBCs.

“Naidu has scant respect for social justice & for the uplift of weaker sections. While Jagan had provided 59.85% reservations to the weaker sections in local body elections, Naidu has directed his party leader to file a case to stall the hike in quota,” Satyanarayana alleged.

TDP spokesman & former MLA Bonda Umamaheshwar Rao said the YSRCP Govt had deliberately brought in the increased quota for weaker sections only to garner votes, despite knowing that the order would be struck down in the court of law.

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