HC Quashes 34% BC Quota, Orders Polls In Six Weeks
The court noted that the terms of gram panchayat, municipality and municipal corporation councils in the State had ended in March-April : Reports
VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court has quashed two government orders providing 34 per cent reservation to BCs (Backward Classes) in local body elections, ruling that total reservations should not exceed the 50 per cent ceiling prescribed by the Supreme Court. It directed the State government and the State Election Commission to initiate the election process within six weeks.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Lisa Gill and Justice Challa Gunaranjan pronounced the verdict on Thursday and advised the State government to review the BC reservation and bring it in line with earlier Supreme Court judgments. The court observed that the government could provide BC reservation within the 50% ceiling after collecting empirical data in accordance with the judgments in the Vikas Kishanrao Gawali and Janhit Abhiyan cases.
The court held that the empirical data collected through the State government’s unified family survey to justify BC reservation beyond 50 per cent was invalid. It observed that the government did not have scientifically generated data to support reservation beyond the ceiling.
The court noted that the terms of gram panchayat, municipality and municipal corporation councils in the State had ended in March-April and said the State Election Commission was responsible for conducting local body elections. It directed the SEC to begin the election process within six weeks.
The court also observed that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls being undertaken by the Election Commission of India was not a hurdle to conducting local body elections. It said the elections could be held using the electoral rolls available as on the eligible date and that the existing rolls could not be set aside merely because the SIR was under way.
Senior counsel for the petitioner submitted that there was no intention to stall the local body elections, provided all statutory requirements under Section 11 of the AP Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, the AP Municipalities Act, 1965, and Section 12 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1995, were complied with. The State Election Commission’s counsel assured the court that the requirements would be followed.
Based on these submissions, the court said there was no reason to stall the initiation of the election process for rural and urban local bodies in the State. The court said it was not examining the legality of the constitution of the Rajiv Ranjan Commission for confirmation of BC reservation, as its formation had not been challenged by the petitioner. It dismissed a PIL filed by AP BC Welfare Union president Kesana Sankara Rao seeking to defer local body elections until a BC census was conducted. It also dismissed another PIL seeking to defer the elections until completion of BC sub-categorisation.
