Bill For Muslim, ST Reservations In TS Soon: KCR

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao today assured that the Telangana government would soon attempt to pass a bill offering 12% reservations for Muslims, similar to what the government of Tamil Nadu did, and also vowed to offer reservations to the Scheduled Tribes as per the criteria laid down by the Constitution.

The Raja Chellappa Commission on STs and the Sudhir Commission on Muslim minorities that studied the social and financial statuses of the two communities submitted detailed reports on their findings to KCR at his camp office.

Rao said that the State government would soon hold a special Assembly session to pass the Muslim and ST reservation bills to provide members of the communities better educational and job opportunities.

The Supreme Court has ruled that reservations in a State cannot exceed 50%, and Telangana is already at 49.5%, making it difficult to legislate more quotas in a way that will stand judicial scrutiny. The challenge for KCR's government therefore is to come up with a bill that will not be struck down by the courts. Tamil Nadu has however done this, and KCR is likely to emulate that approach.

"A Cabinet committee will soon meet to document relevant information. We will ensure that the bill is passed as soon as possible," he vowed.

Minority communities had been neglected by the previous regimes, but this would not happen during the TRS government's regime, he promised.

Deputy Chief Minister Mahmood Ali, Tribal Welfare Minister A Chandulal, Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy, Chief Secretary Dr Rajiv Sharma and other officials were present in the meeting.