The state legislative assembly on Sunday passed the Telangana Reservations Bill, which seeks to enhance the quota under BC-E category to 12 percent from the existing 4 percent for Muslim community and ST reservations to 10 percent from the present 7.5 percent in jobs and education.
The state government headed by chief minister K Chandrasekhara Rao has introduced the bill in the session, which was specially convened to clear the new reservations bill after it was approved by the state cabinet a couple of days ago. The assembly also approved the the Goods and Services Taxes (GST) Act enacted by the Indian Parliament.
Countering the opposition from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members against providing reservations to people based on religion, chief minister Rao said the government was only increasing the quota under the BC-E category which is meant for the backward communities within Muslims.
Rao said he was hopeful of Government of India's support for the bill and also in getting the President of India's assent for the same,but vowed to fight legally and in the Parliament if the state reservations bill encounters any problems in Delhi. He also urged the Centre to include the state bill in the 9th Schedule of the the Constitution to ensure the constitutional guarantee to these quotas.
Once the bill becomes the act, the existing reservations in Telangana under all the categories will go up to 62 percent from the present 49.5 percent. At present the Scheduled Castes (SCs) have 15 percent quota, Scheduled Tribes(STs) have 7.5 percent quota and the Backward Castes (BCs) including BC-E enjoy 27.5 percent reservations.
Justifying the government's move on enhanced quotas for Muslims and STs, the chief minister said the the purpose of reservations can be served only when the quotas were in proportion to the population of the respective castes and communities.
The BJP members strongly objected to the idea of Muslim reservations and also questioned the government's decision to club the Muslim quota and ST reservations in the same bill. While supporting the bill, Congress party, however, questioned the 'sincerity of the government' behind the Muslim quota after knowing well about the Centre's stand on Muslim reservations.
Citing the example of Tamil Naidu state which has 69 percent reservations, Rao argued that there was no constitutional bar on exceeding the reservations beyond 50 percent.