Hyderabad: The special session of the Telangana Legislature was adjourned within a minute after its commencement on Tuesday, February 4, as the State Cabinet meeting to discuss the reports of Socio-Economic, Education, Employment, Political and Caste Survey and one-man Judicial Commission on sub-classification of Scheduled Castes was still in progress.
Both Assembly and Council were adjourned by presiding officers till 2 pm after the government made a request.
The Cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister A Revanth Reddy began at 10 a.m. and it was discussing the two reports received by the Cabinet Sub-Committees concerned when the special session commenced at 11 am.
As soon as the Assembly met, Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu informed Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar that the Cabinet meeting was still on and requested him to adjourn the House. In the Legislative Council, Endowments Minister Konda Surekha made a similar request. Both reports will be tabled in both Houses of the Legislature during the day. The Cabinet also discussed the issue of providing 42 percent reservation to backward classes in the elections that would ensue in local bodies.
The main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) criticised the Congress government over adjournment. BRS leaders alleged that Congress has no respect for the Assembly. They said adjournment of the House within a minute was unprecedented. The Opposition said the government should have held the Cabinet meeting much before the commencement of the session.
CM Revanth Reddy is likely to make a statement on caste survey and SC sub-categorisation reports in the Assembly while deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka is likely to make a similar statement in Council.
The Telangana caste survey report was received by the Cabinet Sub-Committee headed by Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy. The One-Member Judicial Commission headed by retired High Court judge Justice Shameem Akhtar submitted its report on the sub-classification of SCs to the Cabinet Sub-Committee. The Commission is understood to have recommended creation of four sub-categories for equitable resource distribution among SC communities.
The Sub-Committee was constituted on September 12, 2024, with Uttam Kumar Reddy as its chairman and health minister Damodar Raja Narasimha as co-chairman to implement the Supreme Court order on the sub-classification of SCs.
The caste survey report revealed that the Backward Classes (BCs) account for 56.33 percent of the state’s population, of whom 10.08 percent are BC Muslims.
After the debate on the caste survey report, the Assembly is also expected to pass a resolution urging the Union government to amend the Constitution to exceed the 50 per cent reservation cap set by the Supreme Court.
According to the report of Socio-Economic, Education, Employment, Political and Caste Survey, 17.43 percent of the population are Scheduled Castes (SCs), 10.45 percent Scheduled Tribes (STs) and 12.56 percent Muslims, of which 2.48 percent are Other Caste (OC) Muslims.
The OCs make up 13.31 percent of the total population. The comprehensive door-to-door household survey covered 3,54,77,554 people and 1,12,15,134 families. Of the total population covered, 50.51 percent were male and 49.45 percent female.
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