AP High Court quashes 4 per cent reservation to Muslims

By S A Ishaqui


Hyderabad,Feb. 8: The AP High Court in a majority decision on Monday struck down as nsustainable the legislation providing four per cent reservation in educational institutions and government jobs to backward groups among Muslims.

A seven-member bench headed by Chief Justice Anil R. Dave was divided 5-2 and provided three different decisions while striking down the legislation. Justice Dave while pronouncing the verdict on his behalf and on behalf of Justice A. Gopal Reddy, Justice V. Eswaraiah and Justice G. Raghuram opin-ed that the legislation failed to define the expressions “Muslim” and “other Mus-lim groups.” The Act violated Articles 14, 15(1) and 16 (2) of the Constitution.

The court faulted the surveys relied upon by the BC Commission to enumerate Muslim backwardness. The commission’s own survey was “not sufficient,” it said.

The judges said, “In our opinion, the 2007 Act is religion-specific and potentially encourages religious conversion, and is thus unsustainable.” The court struck down the AP Reservations in Favour of Socially and Education-ally Backward Classes of Muslims Act, 2007 and the Government Orders Ms 23 and 231 to provide reservation for Muslim.

verdict is third setback for State

Justice Meena Kumari of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, who partly agreed with the decision of the Chief Justice to strike down Muslim reservations, rendered her verdict separately. She declared that the government has the power to refer to the BC Commission for identifying backward classes to provide reservation to socially and educationally backward classes.
Justice B. Prakash Rao and Justice D.S.R. Varma totally differed with the majority opinion. Justice Varma said he would pass orders soon by citing reasons for dismissal of the writs filed against the Act.
Justice Prakash Rao said that he would confine himself to answering the references made by the five-member bench which had dealt earlier with the same petition.
This is the third setback for the state government on the issue.
In 2004, the AP High Court had struck down a government order providing five per cent reservations to Muslims.
In 2005, the government issued Ordinance 13 and subsequently enacted a Bill. These were also struck down by the High Court. The government moved an SLP against the verdict in Supreme Court which is pending.
The Act struck down on Monday was enacted in 2007. This Act had been stayed by the High Court and the apex court suspended the stay on an appeal by the state government.
In the main, the court faulted the BC Commission for relying on surveys which were unscientific and irrational and not carried out for the purpose of enumerating backwardness among Muslims.
The BC Commission carried out its own survey but the court found that it was “not sufficient,” and the report is “not based on real facts, data or analysis and is without proper survey.” The commission had limited its survey to six districts within three days.
The court also pointed out that “the legislature ought to have taken care, while making the enactment, to define the word ‘Muslim’ and the phrase ‘other Muslim groups’ and state clearly as to who actually falls within these definitions, for enjoying the benefits under the Act.”
The court was dealing with a petition filed by an advocate, Mr Muralidhar Rao, and a student, Ms Tejasri. Another advocate, Mr K. Kondala Rao, and several other individuals and organisations filed petitions challenging and in favour of the legislation.
Justice Anil R. Dave declared that the recommendations set out in the report of the AP Backward Commission submitted on July 2, 2007, are unsustainable as it failed to spell out relevant criteria for identification of social and educational backwardness and inadequate representation in public employment among classes of persons belonging to the Muslim community.
He pointed out that the commission failed in obtaining the population figure of several classes, groups belonging to the Muslim community for inclusion of BC Group-E.