Supreme Court Rejects Andhra Pradesh Governments Petition on 34% Reservation for Backward Classes
The Supreme Court has dismissed Andhra Pradeshs petition challenging the High Courts ruling on 34% reservation for backward classes in local elections.
New Delhi, October 9 (Daily Kiran) : The Supreme Court delivered a significant blow to the Andhra Pradesh government by rejecting its petition on October 6, 2023. This petition challenged a High Court ruling that annulled a 34% reservation for backward classes in local body elections.
A bench comprising Justices Dipankar Dutta and Shil Nagoo questioned the legal basis of the state government’s claims regarding the necessity of increasing the reservation. They specifically scrutinized the data presented by the government, particularly the findings of the integrated family survey.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the state, argued that the High Court had no grounds to dismiss the data as unreliable. However, Justice Dutta’s bench requested the state to demonstrate where the High Court erred in concluding that the survey data could not serve as a basis for determining reservations.
Before dismissing the petition, the Supreme Court raised concerns about relying on survey data to justify the increased reservation. On October 1, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had invalidated two government orders that provided 34% reservation for backward classes, citing that this quota exceeded the 50% cap on total reservations.
The High Court emphasized that, according to Supreme Court guidelines, the total reservation for all categories in local bodies should not surpass 50%.
This ruling poses a significant setback for the coalition government led by Chandrababu Naidu, as increasing backward class reservation from 20% to 34% was one of its key promises ahead of the 2024 assembly elections.
On August 18, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu announced that the BC community would receive 34% reservation in rural local bodies and 33.33% in urban local bodies. Following the High Court’s decision, Naidu instructed officials to promptly appeal to the Supreme Court.
The High Court also directed the state government and the State Election Commission to initiate the local body election process within six weeks, dismissing petitions that sought to postpone elections until the completion of a special intensive revision of the voter list in the state.
