Scheduled Castes to be divided into three groups to implement 15% reservation

Assembly passes Telangana Scheduled Castes (Rationalisation of Reservations) Billon Monday adhering to provisions of Apex Court’s judgment

Reservations for the Scheduled Castes will forthwith be made on the basis of three major groups within the community identified by the Telangana Government.

Percentage of reservation to each of the 3 groups

The State Government has decided to provide 1% reservation from the existing total 15% quota to 15 SC communities categorised as most socially, economically and educationally disadvantaged/overlooked which formed 3.288% of the total SC population in the State. The Group-II constituting 18 communities and comprising 62.748% of the SC population will be provided 9% reservation and the third category comprising 26 significantly benefitted scheduled castes forming 33.963% of the SC population will be given 5% reservation.

The Legislative Assembly on Monday (March 17, 2025) passed the Telangana Scheduled Castes (Rationalisation of Reservations) Bill2025. The Bill follows the Supreme Court’s direction permitting sub-classification within Scheduled Castes reserved categories,followingpersistent demands and representations from various sections among them.

The Bill said that in order to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities not only amongst individuals, but also groups and to ensure that SCs which form the most backward classes achieved unified and uniform progress, the government had decided to bring legislation for sub-classification of SC community without touching upon or interfering with the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950. It was firm on providing the rule of reservation strictly in accordance with the Supreme Court’s judgment.

Accordingly, a committee headed by the Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy was constituted to study the Supreme Court’s judgment and to examine various aspects associated with the issue and make suitable recommendations regarding the way forward. The panel in turn recommended constitution of a dedicated commission of Inquiry for sub-classification.

The Government constituted the dedicated commission headed by retired High Court judge Justice Shameem Akther which collected empirical data concerning population, literacy, employment, admissions, recruitments, financial assistance and political representation pertaining to 59 sub-castes under SCs from different departments and organisations. It had recommended categorisation of SCs into three groups and recommended the percentage of reservation for each of the groups.

The report was approved by the State Cabinet, but a large number of representations were received from the SC communities and associations for re-examination of the report.

The timeline for the Commission of Inquiry was extended by one month during which 71 representations were received from various communities and associations. After thoroughly examining them, Justice Shameem Akther submitted his final report saying: “The Commission of Inquiry is of the firm opinion that there need not be any modification/variation to the recommendations made in the Inquiry Report already submitted by the Commission”.

In the meantime, the Government had also consulted the National Commission for Scheduled Castes as required under Article 338 of the Constitution and had decided to sub-classify the SC community.

Courtesy : The Hindu 

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