Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Muslim quota: BC panel report criticised

Hyderabad: Any declaration to the effect that a group belongs to a backward class on the basis of report which is prepared without proper criteria, survey and data is null and void.

This was the theme of arguments by the petitioners on Wednesday before a seven-member Andhra Pradesh High Court Bench in a batch of writ petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the action of the State government in providing reservations in fields of public employment and education for certain sections of Muslims.

K. Rama Krishna Reddy, senior counsel appearing for some of the petitioners, attacked the foundation of the report of the A.P. Commission for Backward Classes. This report formed the basis for the Act which provided reservation for some sections of the Muslims.

He made it clear that the burden was on the State to prove that the report and the material were good enough, as the government wanted to make exception and give reservation for identified classes.

He said that the publications of the Anthropological Survey of India in its People of India Series and report of P.S. Krishnan based upon these could not be called empirical data. He said that the report of the BC Commission was not valid as it was based upon this.

He said that criteria should be published, objections called for and then data collected and after that conclusions should be arrived at. He filed copies of Mandal Commission which did extensive survey in 409 districts and in two villages and one urban block in each district. He drew the attention of the Bench to the report of Anantharaman Commission which did such extensive study.

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