Muslim quota in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

The debate over 4% Muslim quota in Karnataka revives memories of similar 2004 Andhra Pradesh policy

While a lot is being discussed with much heat and fervor on the 4% quota in Government contracts being given to Muslims only, by the Congress Govt in the state of Karnataka, practically everything seems to be forgotten about the equally infamous 4% quota given to Muslims by the very same Congress party Govt headed by Y S Rajashekhar Reddy in the undivided Andhra Pradesh in the year 2004/ 2005. The order which gave 5% reservations to Muslims in educational institutions and Government employment is widely seen as unconstitutional; it is said that religious quotas are prohibited by the Constitution of India. However, when it comes to a few sections of society, the Constitution doesn’t come in their way.

Congress party’s Y S Rajashekhar Reddy’s Govt issued orders on providing 5% reservations for Muslims only, in educational institutions and Government employment; later in 2005, the Andhra Pradesh Govt passed the `Andhra Pradesh Reservations of Seats in the Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in Public Services under the State to Muslim Community Act, 2005’. The Congress Govt then placed the entirety of Muslims, purportedly under OBC, by creating another category OBC-E. The Govt ensured that the ‘Andhra Pradesh Commission for Backward Classes’ recommended the inclusion of all Muslims under the OBC category.

In November 2005, a five-judge bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissed the order calling it `unconstitutional’, and containing `unscientific and defective criteria’, and also that it exceeded 50% overall ceiling for reservations, by citing the earlier Supreme Court judgments. It also issued guidelines on what constitutes `backwardness’ and asked the state Govt to define the `creamy layer’ applicable to OBC reservations. The court also said that the material placed before the BC Commission wasn’t sufficient to call all the Muslims in the state as backward, and deserving of reservations. In other words, without the qualifying criteria that defined the backward categories, the Congress Govt sought to bring the entire Muslim community under one category, which is akin to religious reservations.

After the High Court dismissed the Muslim reservations, the Congress Govt yet again in 2007, enacted the `Andhra Pradesh Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes of Muslims Act’. This Act provides 4% reservations so that it doesn’t cross the 50% ceiling, to about 15 categories of Muslims. Yet again in February 2010, the seven-judge bench of Andhra Pradesh High Court struck down the Act saying that the methodology of defining 15 categories of Muslims as `backwards’ is flawed and unsustainable.

After the refusal and dismissal of the Muslim reservations by the Andhra Pradesh High Court twice, the Congress Govt immediately approached the Supreme Court, filing a Special Leave Petition challenging the High Court verdict. It has been reported that in March 2010, the Supreme Court upheld the validity of reservations on the grounds that it is provided to socially and economically backward Muslims. It has been reported that in January 2013, the Supreme Court referred the matter to a Special Constitutional Bench. Though a 5-judge bench was constituted in 2016 to decide on the constitutionality of the matter, to date the Supreme Court has not found time to hear the matter. Did the Supreme Court put the matter into cold storage?

It must be noted here that continuing with the `minority appeasement’, the same Congress Govt headed by Y S Rajashekhar Reddy, also set up the `AP Christian Minority Finance Corporation’ in 2008, catering exclusively to Christians, thus enabling conversions. It is not an exaggeration to call it state-sponsored religious conversions. Andhra Pradesh and subsequently Telangana, remain the only states to have Christian Minority Finance Corporations.

The state govt has purportedly integrated the Muslim religious quota into OBC reservations through the OBC-E category, without explaining how it is able to give a 4% quota for almost two decades, without cutting into the category of Hindu OBC quota. Since two decades this quota has benefitted lakhs of Muslims in educational institutions and in Govt jobs. Former minister Mohammad Ali Shabbir, speaking in the year 2019 in a condolence meeting held in memory of former IAS officer P S Krishnan (who is said to have been instrumental in devising a plan for carving out the OBC-E category to provide Muslim quota), said that about 25 lakhs Muslim students benefitted under the 4% quota. The figure understandably would be far higher in 2025. It is indeed strange that the nation has forgotten this curious method of legitimization of a religious quota under the OBC quota garb. Though the BJP had repeatedly questioned the Congress party on the 4% religious quota, possibly political parties cannot do much in the legal logjam.

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