Altering Backward Classes' list to affect Telangana students, says lawyer
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court upholding the Telangana state’s decision to delete 26 castes in the BC list has shocked the people of the affected castes mainly the students.
Counsel for one of the petitioners Raghu Chittarvu said eight to 10 per cent of the students in Telangana state will suffer due to deletion of the 26 castes from the BC list adding that though the presence of these castes is meagre in Telangana state, their presence is considerable in Hyderabad.
Mr Chittarvu said many from these castes are settled in Hyderabad either by way of employment or businesses. They said that the government issued the orders based on the recommendations of the member-secretary of the BC Commission; the member-secretary has very limited role and is meant to implement orders of the Backward Classes Commission.
Advocate-general K. Ramakrishna Reddy contended there was absolutely no illegality nor there was any procedural infirmity in the action and the state government had the power to amend the list after adapting laws which were in existence in the combined state of Andhra Pradesh as per the provisions of Sections 101 and 107 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
The bench considered the recommendations of the member-secretary in which he noted that the Backward Classes commission which has recommended inclusion of 26 castes clearly stated at the time of inclusion that these castes exist only in the Andhra Pradesh region.
While dismissing the petitions, the bench refused to accept the request of counsel for one of the petitioners for keeping in abeyance the order as a majority of students belonging to these castes had got admissions into various professional courses based on an interim order granted by this court.
A single judge on June 22, 2015 had granted an interim order by directing the government to consider the aspirants as Backward Classes and provide admissions to them for the current academic year.
