Telangana told to state stand on Panchayat Raj act

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Thursday directed the Telangana state government to file an affidavit explaining its stand on a petition challenging Section 9 of the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act. A division bench comprisingActing Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice J. Uma Devi was dealing with the petition by Mr P. Asaiah, the general secretary of the MBC Sangham, contending that the action of the state in not providing reservations to the A,B,C,D and E groups of the Backward Classes under the Act was illegal.

Mr A. Satya Prasad, senior counsel, said the state government had the power to provide reservations to the BCs in elections to panchayats and municipalities and the Supreme Court had upheld the power. The state government has to provide reservations to the BCs groupwise under Article 15 (4) of the Constitution. The High Court had directed the government to provide groupwise reservations to the BCs during the GHMC elections, but the Supreme Court has stayed the High Court order with a view to conducting the elections in time.  He said in this backdrop the issue required detailed hearing.