OBC Quota in Local Body Polls: HC Demands Compliance Status Report
HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to appraise it about the time required to comply with the triple test and conditions mandated by the Supreme Court before reserving seats in the local bodies for OBCs.
The division bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Sreenivas Rao, on Tuesday directed the Advocate General A. Sudharshan Reddy to inform the compliance status and how much more time was required to do so, by August 27.
The bench was dealing with a batch of petitions filed in 2018 and 2019 by Jajula Srinivas Goud, Dasoju Sravan Kumar and others, challenging the continuation of the then local body election process without undertaking the exercise of identifying the politically backward class of citizens afresh in accordance with the judgment of the Supreme Court in ‘K. Krishnamurthy vs Union of India.’
During Tuesday’s arguments, Kowuturu Pavan Kumar, senior counsel representing Sravan Kumar, said that in 2021, the apex court outlined triple test/conditions in ‘Vikas Kishanrao Gawali vs State of Maharashtra and others,’ in finalizing OBC reservations in local body elections.
As per the triple test, the government has to set up a commission to conduct a rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness in local bodies and specify the proportion of reservation required to be provisioned local body-wise in light of recommendations of the commission.
When the bench sought to know compliance of the triple test, Sudharshan Reddy pointed out that it is in the process and sought some time to submit further details.