42% Backward Class quota in local body polls: Telangana HC asks whether govt has put in ‘sufficient application of mind’

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G M Mohiuddin was referring to the data collection as part of the Socio-Economic, Educational, Employment, Political, and Caste (SEEEPC) survey conducted by the state government in November-December 2024, which formed the basis for the enhancement of reservation for BCs from 25 per cent in the state.

“Has sufficient application of mind has gone to that or not by the (Backward Classes) commission or by the body collecting the data and the government which has accepted it. And after this data etc are published and the commission submits a report, is there not a requirement for publication and inviting objection and then dealing with the objection and accepting it?” the court asked.

The Telangana government, on September 26, issued an order (GO MS 9) allocating 42 per cent reservation for the Backward Classes in the upcoming local body election to be held in multiple phases in October and November. A Vacation Bench, on September 27, heard the matter in a house motion petition and questioned the lack of the Governor’s assent for the Bill and the urgency with which the order was issued, while posting the matter for hearing on October 8.

The petitioners pointed out that with the BC reservation increasing from the present 25 per cent to 42 per cent, the overall reservation in the state will go up to 67 per cent.

A 4-hour marathon hearing session

On Wednesday, during a marathon session that lasted over four hours, the petitioners again challenged the government order on the grounds that the total 67 per cent reservation directly contravenes the Supreme Court’s mandate, particularly the landmark rulings in Indra Sawhney and K Krishna Murthy, which established the 50 per cent ceiling on vertical reservations.

Senior counsel K Vivek Reddy for the petitioners argued that any reservations for the Backward Classes as per Articles 243 D and 243 T of the Constitution shall be made by the state legislature and must be traced back to a statute.

Further, quoting Article 141, they said the 50 per cent ceiling shall not be breached under any circumstances, except for the Scheduled Tribes. And citing Supreme Court judgments, they stated that “if the 50 per cent ceiling is not complied with, no state election commission shall notify the election, and even if they do, it shall be ignored.”

The petitioners also contended that the state shall not rely on unpublished data for the issuance of a GO and that the Telangana Municipalities (Third Amendment) Bill, 2025, and the Telangana Panchayat Raj (Third Amendment) Bill, 2025, passed by the legislature on August 31 have not been notified in the Telangana Gazette and hence have not come into effect.

Bill pending for the Governor’s assent since March 22: Advocate General

The Advocate General A Sudharshan Reddy, arguing for the state, said that the Telangana Backward Classes (Reservation of seats in Rural and Urban Local Bodies) Bill 2025 was passed in the Assembly on March 17, and has been pending for the Governor’s assent since March 22. The petitioners’ counsels countered this argument, pointing out that the Bill to actually amend Section 285A—which is the necessary prerequisite to legally increasing the cap—was introduced only in August, rendering the March Bill legally baseless.

Senior counsel, B Mayur Reddy, arguing for the petitioners, pointed to two earlier decisions of the High Court: a 1987 decision by a three-judge Bench that struck down a 44 per cent reservation as unconstitutional and a recent 2018 interim order that disallowed a 34 per cent BC reservation because it exceeded the 50 per cent limit. He also noted that the G.O. uses the 2011 census for determining the quotas for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), but has adopted data from 2024 for the Backward Classes (BCs) to justify the increased 42 per cent reservation. This was questioned as an illogical and discriminatory application of demographic data.

Senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the state, said that the petitions present the case as if enhancing the reservations were “a knee-jerk, ad-hoc, arbitrary reaction” by the state government, while a lot of work has gone into it. Singhvi said the state just did not conduct “a raw survey” for data collection, but it was “a multi-layered, institutional, decision par excellence.” He said the exercise is “as scientific, sober, detailed, repetitive, and analytical as it can be.” Quoting various Supreme Court judgments, he said the 50 per cent ceiling “can be flexible”.

He said the Governor has never sent back the Bill (of March 17) to the government, and hence the question of returning the Bill by the legislature does not arise.

Singhvi added that the Governor cannot act on the Bill as “squatting” on the Bill is not an option, and one month later, the Bill is deemed to have been passed. He requested the court not to nullify “such a detailed, well thought-out, intensive, analytical, bona fide exercise in the prerogative of the elected members across the political spectrum” by an interim order. The state’s legal team, which includes Abhishek Singhvi and the Advocate General (AG) and senior counsel Ravivarma Kumar, is scheduled to present its full arguments on Thursday.

After hearing both sides, the Bench said, “any directions in the matter will be passed accordingly and only after hearing the parties on both sides”.

The grampanchayat elections in Telangana will be held in three phases – on October 31, November 4, and November 8, while the Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) polls are scheduled on October 23 and 27.

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