Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday told the Assembly that the government would pass Bills giving 12 per cent quota for Muslims and STs in the ongoing Budget session. He said the BC Commission was touring the districts to assess the social and educational backwardness of Muslims and was expected to submit its report in a week.
He said the government would ask the Centre to include the quota for Muslims in the IX Schedule of Constitution, along the lines of the reservations in Tamil Nadu, to give it legal protection since the overall reservation will increase to 64 per cent. This would be above the 50 per cent cap on reservations fixed by the Supreme Court.
“We appointed two commissions of inquiry in 2015 to study the conditions of Muslims and STs. They have submitted reports in 2016 recommending quotas to both. The BC Commission is the competent authority to recommend Muslim quota. We have referred the Sudheer Commission report on Muslim quota to it,” Mr Rao said. The government has missed several deadlines on the Muslim quota, a major poll promise of the TRS in the 2014 elections.
