Shah's remarks on Muslim quota are contempt of court: Shabbir

HYDERABAD: Senior Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Monday contended that remarks of Union home minister Amit Shah in Chevella on Muslim reservations was tantamount to contempt of court, as the matter was ‘sub-judice’.

He said he was exploring options for filing a petition in Supreme Court against Shah and BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar and retraining them from making comments on the four per cent Muslim quota until the apex court’s constitutional bench delivers its verdict on the issue.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Shabbir Ali felt that as Union home minister, Shah should have thought twice before making such unsavoury assertions. He pointed out that the case with Telangana was different when compared with Karnataka where the BJP state government had scrapped the reservation.

Three constitutional benches were set up in the Supreme Court over the past few years for hearing the four per cent reservation issue and all were dissolved, he said.

“Let the SC constitutional bench deliver its verdict. Unlike in Karnataka, the reservation issue is sub-judice. Who is he (Amit Shah) to scrap the quota? His blabber will amount to contempt of court. How can he say it is unconstitutional? When one talks of social justice, 14 different categories that are historically marginalised are included. This is not a religion-based quota,” he explained.

The former minister, who has batted for quota all along, said that after Prime Minister Narendra Modi overriding the Indra Sawhney judgment, which upheld the ceiling of 50 per cent quota, came up with 10 per cent OBC quota, it extended the provision. Now there remained no legal threats whatsoever.

“With the Supreme Court admitting it, the four per cent quota has turned watertight,” he said.