The Telangana government has rejected a proposal to exempt the creamy layer among the Scheduled Castes from the benefit of reservations.
While tabling the report of a judicial commission, headed by retired High Court judge Justice Shameem Akther on the categorisation of SCs, during the special session of the assembly, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said his government has accepted all the recommendations of the commission, barring the one that suggests exemption of creamy layer.
Before convening the House, the state cabinet accepted the report of the judicial panel, appointed following a Supreme Court verdict on the matter. The panel submitted its recommendations to the subcommittee headed by state Civil Supplies and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy.
The panel has recommended the introduction of a creamy layer suggesting that MLAs, MPs, ZP chairpersons, mayors, and other public representatives, as well as those in government group-I services and similar positions, should be considered as the creamy layer. The commission said the state government should take appropriate steps to exclude these people from availing the benefits of second-generation reservations.
The one-man commission recommended the categorisation of SCs into three sub-categories, seeking to extend the benefits of reservations to them in proportionate to the percentage of their population.
“Today is the most memorable day in my life, as the Congress government has fulfilled two of its major promises – conducting the caste survey and categorisation of SCs,” the chief minister said.
The major recommendations of the commission include dividing the 59 Scheduled Castes into three groups based on their social, economic, and educational status. Group-I includes as many as 15 sub-castes which are the most backward and neglected castes, accounting for 3.288% and the commission recommended that they should receive 1% reservation.
Group-II consists of 18 moderately benefited sub-castes of SCs with a population of 62.748% and they would get 9% reservation; and Group-III includes as many as 26 better-benefited sub-castes of SCs accounting for 33.963% of the SC population and they should be allocated 5% quota.
Revanth Reddy claimed that Telangana is the first state in the country to implement the judgment of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on the sub-categorization of SCs, delivered on August 1, 2024.
“We adopted a resolution in the state assembly on the same day, pledging our commitment to the implementation of the SC categorisation,” he said.
He said to avoid any legal hurdles, the state government constituted a cabinet sub-committee headed by irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on September 12, 2024, to examine the Supreme Court’s judgment and suggest a way forward.
“The committee studied the sub-caste classification processes in other states like Punjab, Haryana, and Tamil Nadu and received legal advice from the State Law Secretary and Advocate General. Based on its report, the government constituted the one-man commission under Dr Justice Shamim Akhtar on October 11, 2024,” he said.
The chief minister reaffirmed that the government is committed to implementing the recommendations of the commission and ensuring that the benefits of the SC classification reach those who have long been waiting for such measures.
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