CM KCR for making ST quota foolproof

Hyderabad: The state government has intensified its exercise to issue a GO to increase the reservations percentage of STs to 10 per cent. As the one-week deadline announced by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to issue the GO to be over in the next two days, the CM has started taking legal opinion to see that it does not get embroiled in a legal battle.

It now remains to be seen if the government will be able to come up with the GO in the next two days or will it take some more time. The Chief Minister, sources said, feels that if it is not implemented then it could cause damage to the party. Another issue that is being examined is would it be legally valid if the GO is issued based on the earlier population census of the STs.

The state government has been demanding the Centre to enhance the ST quota in proportion to their population for the last seven years. With no positive decision coming from the Centre, KCR announced that the state government would come up with a GO enhancing the reservation percentage. It may be mentioned here that the then Chief Minister NT Rama Rao in 1986 had increased ST quota to 6 per cent from 4 in proportion to their population. The ST population has now increased to 10 per cent in the state.

The state government has been given powers to increase 'state specific reservations' by issuing GOs under the 105th Constitutional Amendment made by the Union Government. But then all such decisions are subject to scrutiny by the court of law.

Hence, the CM wants to issue the GO after ensuring that all legal procedures were strictly followed and that it would withstand scrutiny by any court.