A 7 Judge Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court struck down State Government’s efforts to provide 4 percent reservation to Muslims..The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday, for the third time put a stop to the State Government’s effort to provide 4 per cent of government jobs and seats in educational institutions for 14 groups of backward classes of Muslims in the state..The Seven Member bench headed by Chief Justice A.R. Dave held that the “Andhra Pradesh Reservation in Favour of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes of Muslims Act 2007 (Act)” is unconstitutional and that the government did not have the resources to effect such a reservation. However, it kept valid the admissions made into educational institutions on the basis of the Muslim quota..The story so far:.The Andhra Pradesh Government in 2004 passed a Government Order to provide 5 percent reservations to Muslims. This was challenged before the High Court and was struck down, as the Backward Classes Commission was not consulted on this issue amongst several other issues..In 2005, the Government this time passed an ordinance providing 5 percent reservations to the entire Muslim community in consultation with the Backward Classes Commission. The issue again reached the High Court, which struck down the Act on several grounds. It held that Muslims as a community are not homogeneous. The entire religion cannot be considered as ‘backward’ as the Act did not differentiate between ‘creamy layer’ and other backward Muslim groups. It also held that by granting blanket reservation to Muslims it provides an incentive for conversion from other religions to Islam in order to avail the benefits of the reservation. The Court also applied the principles laid down by the Supreme Court as the reservation limit had exceeded 50 percent..After the 5 Judge Bench decision in 2005, the Government constituted a committee to look into the backward communities amongst Muslims and identify groups that belong to the backward class. In 2007, the AP Government in an attempt to slip in through the legal loopholes, provided for 4 per cent reservation so that it did not exceed the 50 percent limit through the Andhra Pradesh Reservation in Favour of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes of Muslims Act 2007..Judgement:.The matter again reached the High Court and a 7 Judge Bench presided over the issue and heard arguments for more than a year. The present High Court judgement details the reservation case by applying principles laid down in Indra Sawhney I and II and carefully extracts the relevant precedent set by the Supreme Courts. While six of the Judges concurred with the Chief Justice’s judgement, Justice Meena Kumari wrote a separate concurring judgement..Several students and members belonging to other castes who are affected by the introduction of the Muslim Reservation challenged the Act of the State Government..Lead Senior Counsel for the petitioners, B Ramakrishna Reddy commented that, “The impact of this judgement is that the reservations provided on the religious basis are no more valid and it cannot be offered in future also”..Advocate general for the state, who defended the Act before the High Court, D.V. Seetarama Murthy is busy discussing the judgement with the Cabinet and is sure of filing an appeal before the Supreme Court. Several Muslim organizations impleaded themselves in this litigation. Jamait C Ulama C Hind, one such organization was represented by the Hyderabad based Indus Law Firm, which is different from Bangalore based Indus G & D..A battery of Senior Counsels argued this matter. Prakash Reddy and Rajeev Dhavan argued on several aspects supporting the petition..A copy of the Judgment is available here
