This Article is From Feb 08, 2010

Muslim quota unsustainable: Andhra High Court

Hyderabad: The Congress government's attempt to endear itself to Muslims in Andhra Pradesh has hit a judicial roadblock yet again, with the Andhra Pradesh High Court striking down the four per cent reservation in jobs and educational institutions for backward groups among the minority community.

The court said the methodology followed by the Backward Classes Commission to identify those who would benefit was unsustainable. However, the court order said that admissions done since 2007 on the basis of this quota (while the case was being heard) would not be declared invalid.

But the court was not satisfied with the yardstick used to define 15 categories of Muslims as backward and said the BC Commission's action was 'mechanical and perfunctory'.

The Congress had introduced five per cent quota for Muslims in 2005, but the court struck it down saying reservation for a religious minority was unconstitutional. In 2007, the state government used backwardness as the criterion to bring in four per cent reservation for Muslim groups, which the high court struck down on Monday.

The Andhra Pradesh government will now appeal in the Supreme Court. Soon after the court's order, Chief Minister K Rosaiah directed the state advocate general D S R Murthy to file a special leave petition in the apex court challenging the verdict.

Geeta Reddy, Andhra Pradesh Information Minister, hastened to reassure the minority community, saying: "We are trying our best. It is a promise we have made to the Muslims and we are going to fight for it."

But the Muslims are upset. Protestors tried to storm the state secretariat in Hyderabad on Monday after the seven-member bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court struck down the four per cent reservation.

Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi, said: "Sachar Committee with empirical evidence has said we are backward, economically, socially and educationally. Ranganath Mishra commission report is also there. When you have all the data to show we are backward, yet we don't get justice in the courts of law. I think it is a very sad day for us."

Ironically, only yesterday, TRS leader K Chandrashekhar Rao had promised 12 per cent reservation for Muslims if a Telangana state became a reality. And even as the Congress' vote-bank agenda was dealt a blow in Andhra Pradesh, in West Bengal, rivals CPM announced a 10 per cent reservation of jobs for socially, educationally and economically backward Muslims in the state, under the OBC category. (Read: Eye on polls, Buddha announces Muslim quota)
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