Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has announced that the Telangana government will be filing a review petition in the Supreme Court against the striking down of its government order that allowed 100% reservation for Scheduled Tribe (ST) teachers in the scheduled areas of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Adivasi groups had earlier demanded that the state governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh file a review petition objecting to the apex court’s verdict.
The Telangana Chief Minister has instructed the officials concerned to study legal and Constitutional provisions and file a review petition in the Supreme Court immediately in this regard. However, Andhra Pradesh has not made any such announcement yet.
Telangana government whip Rega Kantha Rao and MLA Athram Sakku met the Chief Minister at Pragathi Bhavan on Tuesday and submitted a memorandum stating that the Supreme Court’s verdict would cause a lot of injustice to the local tribes and urged the government to wage a legal battle.
"The government in the past had issued a GO reserving cent percent teachers jobs for the local tribes in the tribal areas notified in the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. Some people went to the court in this regard and after several stages, the Supreme Court had dismissed the said GO," said the official note.
The note added that TRS MLAs have brought to the notice of the Chief Minister that the SC verdict would do injustice to the local tribes. They said for those tribes residing in the reserved areas prior to January 26, 1950, there was a system to reserve 100% jobs for them. With this, the local STs benefitted to some extent. With the SC dismissing the government order, the local tribal community will lose the facility, the note added.
"The SC verdict was in total contravention to the special rights provided in the Constitution," added the note.
The Chief Minister has said that continuing the reservation is justifiable and that he has instructed the officials to prepare arguments to continue the reservation and file a review petition.
The CM added that the Constitution itself has given special rights and reservations to the STs. The state government would stand by the STs to safeguard the reservations accorded to them, the CM said.
As earlier reported, there was a total bandh observed in the tribal agency areas of both the Telugu speaking states on June 9, against the Supreme Court’s recent verdict quashing the 100% reservation for Scheduled Tribe (ST) teachers in the scheduled areas of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Some of the dominant agency areas in Telangana include Adilabad, Asifabad, Nirmal, Utnoor, Mancherial, Karimnagar, Khammam, Kothagudem and parts of Nizamabad district. In Andhra Pradesh, some of the Agency areas include East Godavari district, West Godavari, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam.