Telangana High Court Orders Formation of New Commission for OBC Data Collection
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has directed the state government to set up a new commission to collect data on Other Backward Classes (OBCs) for the upcoming local body elections. This decision was made by Justice Surepalli Nanda on Wednesday, who asked the government to form this “dedicated commission” within two weeks.
The court’s decision came after observing that assigning this task to the existing BC (Backward Classes) Commission goes against a previous Supreme Court judgment. In a case involving Vikas Kishan Rao Gawali, the Supreme Court had ruled that a dedicated commission must be created for collecting such data, and this task should not be given to the BC Commission.
Justice Nanda emphasized that the government must follow the Supreme Court’s guidelines. The judge pointed out that the current arrangement of assigning the data collection to the BC Commission does not comply with the Supreme Court’s decision in the Vikas Kishan Rao Gawali case.
During the afternoon session, the state’s Advocate-General (A-G), A Sudarshan Reddy, requested the court to reconsider its order. He argued that the government had already designated the BC Commission as a dedicated body to collect data, in line with the Supreme Court’s directions. However, Justice Nanda rejected this argument, stating that the BC Commission could not fulfill the role of a dedicated commission.
Senior counsel Banda Shivananda Prasad, representing the petitioner and former MP R Krishnaiah, supported the court’s decision. He urged the court to issue an interim order, as the BC Commission had already begun collecting data ahead of the local body elections. He referred to a similar case in Maharashtra, where the Supreme Court had rejected an interim report submitted by the BC Commission, as it did not meet the required standards of rigorous data collection.
In that case, a new commission, known as the Banthia Commission, had to be formed to conduct a proper inquiry. Prasad argued that Telangana should follow a similar approach by forming a new commission.
The case, filed by former MP R Krishnaiah, sought the formation of a dedicated commission to gather accurate data for OBC reservations. The court has given the government two weeks to respond.
The hearing has been adjourned for two weeks.
