Hyderabad: The suspense over whether the Telangana government will overcome the 50% statutory ceiling on reservations to be able to implement a 42% quota for backward classes (BCs) in upcoming local body elections was partially overcome Thursday (July 10) evening, with the decision of the cabinet headed by chief minister Revanth Reddy to promulgate an ordinance for this purpose.

A meeting of the cabinet that lasted more than four hours also decided to file a caveat in court in anticipation of litigation against the ordinance. A caveat seeks that no order is passed without giving the party that files it a hearing.

The government decided to take the ordinance route after two Bills passed by the state legislature enhancing reservations for BCs in local bodies from 29% to 42% have been stuck with the Union government for over three months.

Bringing about this hike in quota was among the Congress's election promises in Telangana.

Meanwhile, the Telangana high court had recently directed the government to complete elections to local bodies before September 30, ending a 17-month delay.

Noting the embarrassment faced by the government due to repeated queries raised by officials of the Union government over the Bills under their scrutiny, ministers Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Ponnam Prabhakar and others told a post-cabinet-meeting media briefing that their follow-ups on the Bills during their visits to Delhi were not encouraging.

“They posed so many questions whenever we called on Union ministers in following up on the matter,” they said.

The hike in quota requires the Union government to include the Bills under Schedule IX of the constitution to insulate them from judicial review.

With no other option in view of the approaching deadline for polls, the government has decided to take the ordinance route and amend a provision of the state Panchayat Raj Act, 2018, which caps reservations at 50%.

On the advice of the government, governor Jishnu Dev Varma prorogued the last session of the legislature to indefinitely adjourn both houses – the assembly and the council – and pave the way for the ordinance to be issued.

The legislature rules require that ordinances can only be promulgated when the legislature is prorogued. The legislature must ratify the ordinances within six months thereafter.

The last session of the legislature was held between March 12 and 27 to pass the annual budget.

As per Section 285A of the said Act, a quota not exceeding 15% and 6% is to be given to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes respectively, and the rest may be allotted to BCs without total reservations exceeding 50%.

This rule is to be amended to increase reservations to beyond the 50% mark based on grounds of “extraordinary situations” as cited by the Supreme Court.

In fact, when the Panchayat Raj Act was enacted by the state legislature in 2018, there was no ceiling on quotas. The government issued an ordinance in 2019 to fix the ceiling and later ratified the same through an Act in the legislature.

The government then went by a Supreme Court ruling making null and void any section of such Acts that existed in violation of its orders restricting reservations to a maximum of 50%.

The 50% limit is based on the principle of equality enshrined in Article 14 of the constitution and interpreted by the Supreme Court in the landmark judgment delivered in the Indra Sawhney case of 1992 that upheld reservations. It is the result not of a constitutional mandate but judicial intervention.

The Supreme Court had also recognised that while a 50% cap on reservations is generally maintained, “extraordinary situations” may justify exceeding this limit.

In tune with Supreme Court directions, the state government set up a dedicated commission for BCs to conduct an in-depth and empirical survey of the social, economic and political status of the community in local bodies. The survey was part of a triple test recommended by the court.

The government conducted a caste survey from November to December 2024 to gather empirical data. About 96% of the total population was surveyed as per government records.

The population of BCs was fixed at 56.3% as per the survey, which the government used to support its promise to extend a 42% reservation to this section. The overall population of SCs, STs and BCs was pegged at 84%.

The Congress had in November 2023 committed to implement a 42% quota for BCs in a declaration at a public meeting in Kamareddy that was attended by Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah prior to assembly elections in Telangana. The party heeded to the “jitni abadi, utna haq [rights proportionate to population]” slogan of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during his Bharat Jodo Yatra.

On assuming power in the state, Revanth Reddy's cabinet passed a resolution to conduct the survey with the goal of fulfilling its promise. This was followed by another resolution in the assembly.

After the survey, two Bills – one on 42% reservation in education and employment and another with the same quota in local bodies – were passed by the legislature and sent to the Union government through the governor for their inclusion in Schedule IX.

As the hiked quota has not seen the light of the day amidst growing suspense, the cabinet has decided to go ahead with the ordinance.

On the advice of advocate general Sudarshan Reddy, who was also present at Thursday's cabinet meeting, it was decided to implement the quota with the mandal as the unit for elections to gram panchayats and Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTCs), and the district for Mandal Parishad Presidents and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs).

A commission will be formed to finalise reservations gram panchayat-, mandal- and district-wise.

The high court had given a month to the government to finalise the reservations and two months' time ending on September 30 to complete the election process.

The elections will take place for 12,777 gram panchayats, 5,982 MPTCs and 585 ZPTCs representing as many Mandal Parishad presidents.

The elections were supposed to be held in two phases – initially for MPTCs and ZPTCs, and later for gram panchayats to elect sarpanches.

An official who did not want to be named said the proposal was to send the file amending the Panchayat Raj Act to governor Varma to seek his consent for issuance of the ordinance.

On receipt of his consent, the ordinance would be issued and then a special government order incorporating the amendment to the Act relaxing the ceiling on reservations would be issued in turn.

He did not expect a delay at the governor's end because the amendment pertains to a state Act.

R. Krishnaiah, a prominent BC leader and Rajya Sabha BJP MP from Andhra Pradesh, has appealed to citizens not to set up obstacles for the ordinance by going to court. He said he did not expect hurdles to the process as state governments were empowered to fix reservation percentages according to Article 243D of the constitution.

Former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao's daughter and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC K. Kavitha took credit for the government's decision, saying it was the result of her struggle. She asked the government to proceed after filing a caveat in court. She announced the withdrawal of the call given by Telangana Jagruthi, an organisation she heads, for a rail roko demonstration in support of the demand for the hiked reservation for BCs on July 17.

BRS MLA T. Srinivas Yadav said the ordinance amounted to bypassing the Bills referred to the Union government through the governor. Another BRS MLA, Gangula Kamalakar, wondered why the government waited for so many months if the elections could have been held by promulgating an ordinance.

BRS Rajya Sabha MP V. Ravichandra said ordinances lacked legal backing. The government decided on the ordinance knowing full well that it would be struck down by the courts, he said, adding to allege that the government lacks the sincerity to truly go for elections.

Congress workers erupted in celebration at the party office in Hyderabad. A former state president of the party, K. Keshava Rao, advised the BRS leaders not to politicise the issue at this juncture.

Backward classes minister Prabhakar also appealed to opposition parties not to obstruct the ordinance as elections are already delayed by 17 months.

BJP state general secretary Kasam Venkateswarlu said the decision on the ordinance showed that the government had bowed to pressure from the saffron party. He recalled that the government set up its dedicated commission for BCs after Krishnaiah filed a petition in the high court highlighting a lack of sanctity for the caste survey in the absence of such a commission. Krishnaiah withdrew the petition afterwards.

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