Hyderabad, India - Amidst walkout by BJP members, Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Monday night passed a Bill providing for four per cent reservation for socially and educationally backward Muslims in jobs and educational institutions, excluding the creamy layer.
The AP Reservation (in favour of socially and educationally-backward classes of Muslims) Bill 2007, replaces an ordinance promulgated by the Governor Rameshwar Thakur on July 7 last.
The two-member BJP opposed the legislation on the ground that reservation on the basis of religion was unconstitutional. BJP floor leader, G Kishan Reddy, led the walkout accusing the Congress government of indulging in vote bank politics.
Piloting the Bill, Minorities Welfare Minister, Mohammad Ali Shabbir, said the quota would be applicable to 15 Muslim groups which have been identified by the AP Backward Classes Commission as socially and educationally backward.
A new group will be created in the Backward Classes list for the purpose of providing reservation to Muslims with the application of creamy layer norms of the central government except in the case of annual income limit which has been fixed at Rs 4 lakh.
The BC Commission's report was approved by the cabinet at its meeting here on July 4, paving the way for issuing the modified ordinance to scale down the quota to 4 per cent, as against 5 per cent planned earlier, to overcome legal hurdles.
While reduction in quota will ensure that total reservations in the state will not exceed 50 per cent, a ceiling prescribed by the Supreme Court, the categorization of the community on the basis of socio-economic status is expected to stave off criticism over religion-based reservations.
The High Court had, in November 2005, quashed an earlier ordinance, terming it as unconstitutional and arbitrary. The Supreme Court had refused to grant stay on the High Court order in January last year.
It is estimated that the 15 groups, identified as backward, account for nearly 80 to 85 per cent of Muslim population.
As per 2001 census, Muslims constitute 9.2 per cent of the state's total population of over 7 crores.
At present, the BCs, who are categorized into A,B,C and D groups, are being provided 25 per cent reservation, while Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have 14 and 7 per cent quota respectively.
In tune with its election promise, the Rajasekhar Reddy government had first issued an order in July 2004 providing for reservations to Muslims, but it was struck down by the High Court in September 2004.
Later, the government constituted a four-member Backward Classes Commission and based on its report issued the quota ordinance in June 2005, categorizing entire Muslim community as Backward Class.
While quashing the ordinance, the Court had pulled up the Commission for not following proper methodology, while recommending inclusion of Muslims in the BC list.