The state government is undecided over implementing the AP High Court’s timeframe for conducting the panchayati raj elections as well as curtailing reservation quota for BCs from 34 per cent to 23.45 per cent to meet the 50 per cent cap. “We have not taken any decision so far; we respect the court’s verdict and will announce the government’s decision in the next few days after consulting the Chief Minister,” said panchayati raj minister K. Jana Reddy, adding that the government would examine the judgment and only then come to a decision.
On June 8 last year, the government had stipulated a total of 60.55 per cent reservations for SCs (18.30 per cent), STs (8. 25 per cent) and BCs (34 per cent) in all gram panchayats, MPTC, ZPTC and Zilla Parishads. However, the Supreme Court in October 2010 had ruled that reservations in local body polls should not exceed 50 per cent. Since there are statutory quota for SCs and STs, the state will have to curtail the quota for the BCs from 34 per cent to 23.45 per cent to limit the total quota to 50 per cent.
State bound to review quota time to time: HC
A Division Bench of the AP High Court comprising acting Chief Justice P.C. Ghose and Justice Vilas V. Afzulpurkar refused to accept the state’s contention regarding reservations for BCs, SCs and STs stated, “We are not inclined to accept this submission as there is no empirical data in the state and the reservation is based on unpublished data. Further, the limit of reservation, as ruled by the Supreme Court, was not available in 2006.”
The Bench held that the state government was required to conduct a detailed investigation with regard to backwardness of the population, collect data, invite objections from the general public, analyse the data and then fix the reservations in accordance with the Constitutional scheme. The state government shall also review the reservation from time to time, the Bench held. The Bench dismissed the writ petitions challenging the validity of amending Acts, providing for appointment of Special Officers for local bodies, by pointing out that the government had promulgated the ordinance, making transitional arrangements for administration of local bodies till ordinary elections were held.
“The Ordinance was promulgated only to fill the vacuum in extraneous circumstances as the Act did not provide for the said contingency and all necessary steps had been taken for conducting elections to the Panchayat Raj institutions within time, but in view of the interim stay granted by this Court, further steps could not be taken for holding elections. In view of this, it cannot be said that the appointment of special officers was illegal,” the Bench added.