Indian HC quashes Muslim quota
While a bench of the High Court of a southern Indian state Monday quashed a legislation providing four percent reservation to Muslims in education and jobs, West Bengal government granted ten percent quota for Muslims in government jobs.
The seven-member bench headed by High Court Chief Justice AR Dave said in a 5-2 majority judgment that the Andhra Pradesh Reservation in Favour of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes of Muslims Act 2007 is “religion-specific and potentially encourages religious conversion” and ruled that reservation cannot be provided on the basis of religion.
The bench said the government is enacting the law providing for the four percent reservation for the Muslim groups was based solely on “unscientific” findings of a Commission.
Many Muslim groups in Andhra Pradesh staged protests on Tuesday, mounting pressure on the state government to press for a constitutional amendment in higher education and jobs, a day after the high court struck down reservations for the community a third time.
Blaming the state government for its failure to put up a strong case in favour of reservations, the Muslim groups wanted the government to take all necessary steps to protect their interests.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal Government on Monday accepted the Ranganath Mishra Commission report granting 10 percent reservation in government jobs for Muslims under the Backward Castes (OBC) category.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told media persons in Kolkata that “ten per cent of the jobs in our government will be reserved for members of the minority community who are educationally, socially and economically backward”.
The announcement by Bhattacharjee came ahead of elections to 82 municipalities in West Bengal, including Kolkata Municipal Corporation, with a few months followed by fresh polls to the state legislature next year.
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