4% quota for Muslims: SC issues notice to AP govt

The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Andhra Pradesh government on a petition challenging the constitutional validity of an Ordinance granting 4 per cent reservation to Muslims in professional colleges.

Without passing any interim order, a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan sought reply from the Andhra Prad-esh government whether the "creamy layer" had been excluded or not from the benefit of the reserv-ation.

The court has fixed September 28 as the next date of hearing.

Senior advocate Arun Jaitley informed the court that the matter had to be heard urgently as the state government would finalise the admission process by September 30.