KCR mulls EBC quota in education, jobs

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is seriously considering implementing quotas 

for the economically backward classes among the upper castes. The quotas will be first implemented in education and will be followed by jobs. 

The plan is to exclude the creamy layer among the BCs, SCs, STs and minorities from existing  quotas to enable implementation of the EBC quota. Well-off people in reserved quotas — those earning more than '8 lakh a year — will be replaced by EBCs. This is to ensure that 50 per cent upper limit on reservations prescribed by Supreme Court is not violated.

The TS government had passed an Act in April 2017 to increase the overall reservations to 62 per cent by quotas for Muslims from 4 to 12 per cent and to STs from 6 to 10 per cent, but it is pending with the Centre for approval.

TRS sources said the issue of EBC quota had come up for discussion in the Cabinent meeting chaired by Mr Rao at Pragathi Bhavan on Sunday.

Mr Rao is learnt to have said in the meeting that poorer sections from upper castes were facing several hardships due to poverty. They could not avail of the reservation benefits offered by the government due to their upper caste tag, which, he said, was unjustified.

During the launch of Rythu Bandhu Scheme on May 7, Mr Rao had referred to the plight of EBCs and has announced that the TRS government would soon come out with a policy for their uplift. Sources in the party said the EBC quota is being proposed as part of this.

Mr Rao has asked legal experts to recommend measures on how to implement EBC quota without facing legal problems. Earlier attempts of various state governments to implement the EBC quota were stuck down by courts.