Govt to table 3 bills on SC sub-groups & 42% BC quota in special session

Hyderabad: The state govt will table three Bills in the special session of the assembly to be convened between March 1 and March 5. One bill is for sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes (SCs), second for 42% reservations for BCs in local bodies, and third for 42% quota for BCs in education and employment.
A decision to table two Bills for 42% reservations to BCs was taken by the govt after consulting legal experts. Chief minister A Revanth Reddy had earlier announced in the assembly that the Congress govt will take all measures required to give legal backing for SC sub-categorisation and 42% BC quota.
Once the three legislations are passed by the assembly, the govt will send them to the Centre for making them a law after bringing in constitutional amendments to protect the enhanced BC quota from legal challenges.
Officials have already started preparing the drafts of the three Bills based on the reports of Justice Shameem Akhtar SC Commission, Busani Venkateshwara Rao-led dedicated BC Commission, and the comprehensive socio-economic, educational, employment, political, and caste survey in the state.
The cabinet will meet later this month to discuss the bills before they are tabled in the assembly.
On Feb 4, the assembly had adopted Justice Akhtar's report on SC sub-categorisation. The report categorised 59 various SC castes into three groups, fixing 1% reservation to 15 SC sub-castes in Group I, 9% to sub-castes in Group II, and 5% to 26 sub-castes in Group III based on their socio-economic and population percentage, among other factors. The govt, however, rejected the commission's recommendation for carving a creamy layer among the SCs.
Revanth Reddy had announced that Feb 4 will be observed as ‘Social Justice Day' every year as the comprehensive socio-economic, educational, employment, political and household caste survey report was adopted in the assembly on that day.
Following the special session, the annual budget session will be held in the third week of March.