TG Assembly passes SC Categorisation Bill

Hyderabad: The Telangana Legislative Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed The Telangana Scheduled Castes (Rationalisation of Reservations) Bill, 2025 by a voice vote, fulfilling the longstanding demand for the sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes (SC), an issue that had remained unresolved for over three decades.

The Bill aims to allocate reservations for SC sub-castes in education and employment within the existing 15 per cent SC quota, ensuring equitable distribution among 59 SC sub-castes.

The categorisation process divided SCs into three groups based on inter-se backwardness. In Group I, the 15 most backward SC communities, constituting 3.288 per cent of the SC population, were allotted 1 per cent reservation.

Group II included 18 moderately benefited communities, making up 62.74 per cent of the SC population, and received 9 per cent reservation.

Group III comprised 26 communities that had largely benefitted from previous reservations, forming 33.963 per cent of the SC population, and were allocated 5 per cent reservation.

Following the Supreme Court's verdict in favour of SC sub-categorisation on August 1, 2024, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had initiated the process of implementing the orders. On the same day, when the Assembly was in session, he announced in the House that Telangana would become the first state in the country to implement Supreme Court orders on SC sub-categorisation.

The Congress government structured its plan by studying models from Punjab, Haryana, and Tamil Nadu, where similar classifications exist. In September 2024, the government formed a Cabinet sub-committee headed by minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy to recommend measures for implementing the Supreme Court orders. Additionally, a one-man commission led by retired High Court judge Justice Shamim Akhtar was appointed in October 2024 to conduct an exhaustive study of SC sub-castes. The commission gathered crucial data on population, literacy, employment, higher education admissions, recruitment trends, financial assistance, and political representation.

The Shamim Akhtar Commission played a key role in examining 59 SC sub-castes, analysing backwardness to ensure fair categorisation. After submitting a preliminary report on February 4, 2025, several SC sub-castes raised concerns, prompting the government to extend the commission’s tenure by a month for further review. The final categorisation process was done by taking their concerns into consideration.

The Bill was introduced in the Assembly on March 17 and passed on March 18, marking the completion of the process within eight months of the Supreme Court’s verdict on August 1, 2024.

Introducing the Bill in the House, health minister Damodar Rajanarsimha said that SC categorisation was based on social backwardness and aims to provide preferential treatment for disadvantaged SC communities.

He acknowledged that categorisation alone was not a complete solution to uplift SC sub castes, stressing the need for financial assistance, education, skill development, housing, and industrial policies to eliminate the socio-economic backwardness of SCs.

CPI MLA Kunamneni Sambasiva Reddy voiced concerns about the Rella community, which was previously in Group I but has now been placed in Group III, despite its work in scavenging and sanitation. He urged the government to reconsider this classification.

AIMIM MLA Majid Hussain proposed increasing SC reservations from 15 to 18 per cent and suggested introducing four categories instead of three. Congress MLA G Vivek Venkat Swamy also supported raising SC reservations to 18 per cent and demanded that 18 per cent of the state Budget be allocated for SC welfare.