Telangana to hike Muslim quota to 12% from 4%

Decision was taken by state cabinet at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao

The Telangana government on Saturday decided to hike the reservations for the socially and economically backward among Muslims to 12 per cent from the existing four per cent.

The decision was taken by the state cabinet at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

The cabinet also decided to increase the quota for the Scheduled Tribes (STs) from the current seven per cent to 10 per cent, official sources said.

Both the Houses of the state legislature will be meeting on Sunday for a special session to pass a bill for increasing the quantum of reservation for Muslims and STs in education and jobs.

As this will take the overall reservations in the state beyond the prescribed limit of 50 per cent, the legislature will pass Telangana Reservation Bill and send it to the Centre with a request to include it in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution as was done in the case of Tamil Nadu.

Chandrasekhar Rao said Telangana was following the model of Tamil Nadu, where the overall quota for different groups is 69 per cent.