02-05-2025
CM Revanth to meet Prez Murmu; push for BC quota Bills
Hyderabad: With the Central government announcing the inclusion of caste census in the next national census, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who happens to be the first CM in the country to conduct the caste survey and adopt two Bills to increase reservations for the BCs to 42 per cent, is now ready to push the demand for the approval of the Bills pending before President Droupadi Murmu at national level.
A delegation, led by the Chief Minister, is likely to meet the President soon and request the latter to give her consent to the Bills which propose to enhance reservations for the Backward Classes to 42 per cent in education, employment and political opportunities, especially local body elections. Governor Jishnu Dev Varma has sent these Bills to the President for consideration.
Top officials said that the Chief minister was holding a series of meetings with legal and constitutional experts to ascertain whether the President would give her nod and what measures needed to be taken in case the Bills were not ratified.
'The Centre's decision on the caste census triggered a debate on the legitimacy of the caste census conducted by the Telangana government and the Bills passed to raise the BC quota. Now, the CM got the opportunity to insist on the Centre to get approval for the BC quota Bills from the President,' top officials said, adding that the government would pursue the issue seriously since the local body elections are round the corner.
On March 18 this year, the Assembly had passed the Telangana Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointment or Posts in The Services Under the State) Bill, 2025, and The Telangana Backward Classes (Reservation of Seats in Rural and Urban Local Bodies) Bill, 2025. Some experts say that these Bills require a constitutional amendment for increasing the BC quota while others maintained that the President's approval is enough to enact the requisite law.
The state government has already urged the Centre to place its new reservation proposals under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, which protects the government's decisions from judicial review.
