Andhra govt reserves 4 percent seats for Muslims

QUOTA FOR MUSLIMS: With the scaling down of the quota by one pc, the total reservations in AP will be 50 pc.

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New Delhi: The Andhra Pradesh government will give four per cent reservation to Muslims in jobs and education. Fourteen 'castes' among the Muslims have been put by the state government in "Category E" and will get the benefit of reservation.

As of now, there are now four categories of Backward Classes - A, B, C and D - with a combined quota of 25 per cent while Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have 14 and seven per cent reservations respectively.

A meeting of the state cabinet in Hyderabad, chaired by Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, approved the state Backward Classes Commission's report that recommended the four per cent quota for 15 groups among Muslims that were identified as socially, economically and educationally backward.

The move came against the backdrop of the High Court quashing an earlier ordinance providing five per cent reservations for Muslims.

With the scaling down of the quota by one per cent, the total reservations in the state will touch 50 per cent, which would be in line with the ceiling set by the Supreme Court.

"Instead of religion-based reservations, we have decided to provide a quota for Muslims based on their social and economic backwardness. This is in tune with the observations made by the High Court while dismissing the earlier ordinance," Information Minister A Ramanarayana Reddy was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.

"After consulting constitutional experts, we opted for categorising Muslims on the basis of their social and economic status so that deserving sections can get the benefits of reservation," Reddy was further quoted as saying by PTI.

The creamy layer norm will be applied in line with the guidelines laid down by the government. Syeds, Pathans, Sheikhs, Arabs, Irani, Cucthi Memon, Mughals and others, which are considered forward classes among Muslims, have been excluded from this quota.

By taking this step, the Andhra Pradesh government has completely ignored the edict issued by Islamic seminaries against the division of Muslims into castes for providing reservations.

Last month, six famous Islamic seminaries in Hyderabad had issued a 'fatwa' or edict against the state government's move on the ground that there is equality among Muslims and Islam does not have a caste system.

The Backward Classes Commission, to which the proposal was referred, is to conduct public hearings from June 23 to 26. The government had planned to use its recommendations to issue an ordinance and implement the Muslim Reservation Act, bypassing all legal hurdles. But with Muslims themselves opposing the move, it seems the government is placed in a tricky situation again.

Reservations for Muslims was an important poll promise of the ruling Congress. Nearly two months after it came to power in May 2004, the government had issued the quota ordinance.

However, the High Court had on November 7, 2005 quashed the ordinance, terming it as unconstitutional and arbitrary.

The Supreme Court refused to stay the High Court's order in January last year. Since then, the state government has been facing flak from opposition parties and Muslim groups over its failure to deliver on its pre-poll promise.