Hyderabad, July 15 (IANS) The Telangana government has sent a draft ordinance to Governor Jishnu Dev Varma to increase the reservation for Backward Classes (BCs) in local body elections to 42 per cent.

Following the decision taken by the State Cabinet last week, the government sent the draft ordinance, which seeks to amend Section 285A of the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act 2018.

Currently, the Act caps total reservations for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and BCs in local bodies at 50 per cent, in line with Supreme Court rulings.

As the deadline fixed by the Telangana High Court to finalise reservation in gram panchayats is ending by the month-end, the state government has initiated the steps for amending the Act through an ordinance.

The Law Department approved the proposal sent by the Panchayat Raj Department for an amendment to the Panchayat Raj Act, and the same was cleared by the Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, before the file was forwarded to Raj Bhavan for issuing the ordinance.

Once the ordinance is issued by the Governor, the government will finalise the reservation for BCs.

The High Court last month fixed September 30 as the deadline for conducting Panchayat elections. The government was directed to finalise the reservation by the end of July.

The Telangana Cabinet on July 10 decided to issue an ordinance to enhance the reservation for BCs in local bodies to 42 per cent.

The Congress government took the decision to fulfil the promise made to BCs in the 2023 elections.

The state Assembly passed two Bills in March to enhance reservation for BCs in education, jobs and local bodies to 42 per cent based on the caste census conducted in the state and sent the same to the Centre for Presidential assent.

With the Centre yet to respond to the state’s request for approval of the Bills, the government decided to issue an ordinance to conduct the local body elections with 42 per cent reservation for BCs.

The Cabinet noted that as per the direction of the Supreme Court, the state government had constituted a dedicated Commission for BCs, and it also conducted a caste census. Based on these, the Assembly passed the Bills to enhance the BC quota.

The Cabinet decided to take further steps for 42 per cent reservation for BCs based on the available empirical data.

–IANS

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