Supreme Court order on Muslim quota a relief for students

HYDERABAD - The Supreme Court order restoring four percent quota for backward Muslims in government jobs and education in Andhra Pradesh has come as a big relief for students aspiring for admission into professional courses in the next academic year.

The students, who were afraid of losing a year due to last months Andhra Pradesh High Court order quashing the quota, were elated with the interim order of the Supreme Court, which Thursday observed that there was nothing wrong in providing a quota for Muslim backward classes.

Students from 14 backward groups in the Muslim community hope to avail of the reservation benefit for the fourth consecutive year. Since a constitutional bench of the apex court will take up the hearing in August, admissions to most of the professional courses would be completed by then.

The court order will encourage us to do well and we can continue to avail of the quota benefit, said Mohammed Saifullah, a Class 12 student who hopes to get admission in a MBBS course.

Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, who is spearheading a campaign for the restoration of Muslim reservation, termed the court verdict as remarkable. This is our first victory and will save the academic year of Muslim students, he said.

In the past three years, about 30,000 Muslim students were admitted into various professional courses and higher education and nearly 3,000 candidates were recruited in government jobs.

Muslim leaders view the quota as a boon to ameliorate the socio-economic conditions of the community.

The Supreme Court judgement has also raised hopes among Muslim students appearing for the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) examinations.

The reservations have not only benefited Muslims in getting lower cadre government jobs under Group II but helped them to occupy higher positions like that of deputy collectors. As many as seven Muslims, including two girls, got Group I postings in 2008.

The beneficiaries and community leaders give credit for this to late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who provided reservation soon after coming to power in 2004.

Not a single day passes when Muslims do not feel the absence of Rajasekhara Reddy, MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi told the assembly this week while speaking on welfare schemes launched by YSR, who died in a helicopter crash in September last year.

Fulfilling his election promise, YSR had provided five percent quota to Muslims through a government order in 2004. But the high court quashed the same on petitions by some individuals.

However, on the court’s advice, the government reconstituted the backward classes commission and directed it to conduct a detailed survey of the socio-economic conditions of Muslims.

On the recommendations of the commission, the government issued an ordinance in 2005. Subsequently, the assembly passed legislation for five percent reservation.

However, the high court set aside the legislation on grounds that this would exceed the 50 percent quota limit set by the Supreme Court.

So the government issued an order in 2007 providing four percent quota in government jobs and educational institutions for backward classes among Muslims.

A seven-judge bench of the high court Feb 8 quashed the Andhra Pradesh Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes of Muslims Act of 2007 saying reservations cannot be extended on religious basis.

According to the 2001 census, Muslims constitute 9.2 percent of the 77 million population of Andhra Pradesh.