Hyderabad: Mr A.K. Khan, who retired as director-general of the ACB on December 31, was on Sunday appointed adviser on minority welfare.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao issued orders to this effect on Sunday, taking the number of advisers to nine including former chief secretary Rajiv Sharma as chief adviser.
The government already has Mr R. Vidyasagar Rao (irrigation), Mr A.K. Goel (planning and energy), Mr A. Rama Lakshman (welfare), Mr B.V. Papa Rao (policy and institutional development), Mr K.V. Ramana Chary (culture, tourism, endowments, youth and media affairs), Mr G.R. Reddy (finance) and Mr G. Vivekananda (inter-state affairs) advising it on various issues.
The decision assumed significance in the backdrop of the TRS government making efforts to bring a law to increase quota for Muslims from existing four per cent to 12 per cent. The government has appointed the BC Commission, which conducted public hearings on increasing quota for Muslims and is in the process of submitting a report to the government.
Mr Rao asked officials to visit Tamil Nadu to study how that government was implementing 69 per cent quota, which is more than the Supreme Court stipulated reservation limit of 50 per cent. TS already has total quota of 50 per cent and increase in quota for Muslims and STs to 12 per cent each would take the total to 64 per cent.
Mr Khan is expected to visit Tamil Nadu soon to take up the study and advise the TS government on the measures to increase quota for Muslims to ensure that no legal problems crop up.
