Telangana BC Reservations: Congress Govt Faces Big Setback in Supreme Court

In a setback to the Congress government in Telangana, the Supreme Court on Thursday (October 16) dismissed the State’s Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging the High Court’s stay on 42% reservation for Backward Classes (BCs) in local body elections.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta clarified that the High Court should decide the main case on its merits, without being influenced by the dismissal of the State’s plea.

On October 9, the Telangana High Court had stayed Government Order (GO) No. 9, which introduced the enhanced quota, and suspended its implementation until further orders. The court directed the State to file its counter-affidavit within four weeks, and gave petitioners two additional weeks to respond. The next hearing is expected in about six weeks.

Senior advocate Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the State, explained that the reservation law came into effect through “deemed assent” since the Governor had kept the Bill pending. He cited the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Tamil Nadu Governor case to support this argument.

However, counsel for the respondents, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, argued that the Government Order violated the 50% ceiling on total reservations as laid down in earlier Supreme Court judgments — including K. Krishna Murthy vs Union of India and Vikas Kishanrao Gawali. He said these rulings mandate that States must fulfill “triple tests” before extending quotas in local self-government institutions.

The respondents also contended that the State cannot act unilaterally based on “deemed assent” and must seek a court directive if the Governor delays approval.

Singhvi countered that the 50% ceiling was not absolute, asserting that Telangana had conducted extensive door-to-door socio-economic surveys to justify the 42% quota for BCs. But the bench was not convinced.

Concluding the hearing, the Supreme Court dismissed the SLP, leaving the High Court’s stay on the enhanced reservation in place.