Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao from Telangana wants to give 12 percent reservations to Muslims. But the parliament has to be approve the bill for the same. The state legislature of Telangana will first move a bill , pass it and the same resolution would be sent to the parliament for approval.
All this will take quite some time and the BJP is opposed to this move of the Telangana CM.
The Supreme Court imposed cap on overall reservations and the Centre’s reluctance to provide cover from judicial scrutiny makes TS Muslim quota unpredictable.Reservations for Muslims and Christians were first introduced in Kerala, which was then Travancore-Cochin state, in 1936.
The reservation for backward Muslims in government jobs has existed in Bihar, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. West Bengal added 10 per cent quota for backward Muslims.Reservations for Muslims in AP came into force in 2007. It is in force in AP and TS subject to an interim order of the Supreme Court, which restricted quota to 14 classes of Muslims.
Muslims in other states such as Bihar, MP, UP, Rajasthan, Jharkand don’t have separate reservation, but they are included in the existing list of BC categories.They enjoy the same privileges as others in these categories enjoy.
As per the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Indira Sawhney case, reservations contemplated in Clause (4) of Article 16 of the Constitution cannot exceed 50 per cent.
If the state government wants to provide reservation in excess of 50 per cent, it has to get the enhanced quota validated by Parliament through Article 31 (B) of the Constitution and get it included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. The incorporation of a law in the Ninth Schedule protects it from judicial scrutiny.
This, however, does not appear to be possible because the Narendra Modi-led government said that it would not allow any reservation based on religion. The state BJP too has been opposing this move.
The issue could also face several judicial headwinds. The law providing four per cent reservation to Muslims is already pending before a Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court and the validation of 69 per cent of reservation in Tamil Nadu under Article 31(B) is with the apex court for judicial review.
Lets hope the Telangana CM will be able to give atleast 10 percent to the Muslims and make history .
