BC Groups Seek Constitutional Amendment For Local Body Quota
BC organisations urged the Andhra Pradesh government to seek a constitutional amendment to restore reservations in local bodies after the 34% quota was struck down.
Rajya Sabha member and National BC Welfare Association president R. Krishnaiah on Friday urged the Andhra Pradesh government to take up the BC reservation issue with the Centre and seek a constitutional amendment.
His call followed the recent striking down of the 34 per cent quota for BCs in local bodies by the High Court.
Krishnaiah, speaking on behalf of 14 BC organisations, said an appeal to the Supreme Court alone was unlikely to yield the desired result in view of its earlier judgments imposing a 50 per cent ceiling on reservations. If the state approaches the apex court, it should seek a seven- or nine-judge Constitution Bench, he said.
He noted that BC reservations had been struck down in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh over the past 15 years on the ceiling issue.
The RS member questioned the constitutional or statutory basis for the 50 per cent limit, pointing out that SC/ST reservations together ranged from 70 to 90 per cent in some northeastern states.
Krishnaiah said BCs, who constituted about 56 per cent of the population, got only 25 per cent reservation in education and employment and lacked political reservation in legislatures.
He urged Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan to press Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a constitutional amendment, with support from Telugu Desam, Jana Sena and JDU.
