The Supreme Court of India (SC) on 21 September 2015 issued notice to the Telangana government to state the reasons for omission of 26 castes from the state backward classes (BC) list.
The notice was issued by a bench headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) H L Dattu on the basis of a petition filed by the Setti Balija Youth Association.
The petitioner contended that the state’s decision to remove the Setti Balija community from the BC list was illegal as it was made without any prior recommendation of the Telangana State Backward Class Commission.
Further, the petitioner pleaded for justice as the community is not eligible for reservations in neither Telangana nor Andhra Pradesh as Andhra Pradesh also consider them as non-local category.
Telangana state government issued a Government Order on 11 March 2015 removing 26 castes from the state BC list by stating that these communities were prevalent in the districts which now did not form part of the state.
However, it is estimated that, at present, about 10 lakh people belonging to the Setti Balija community reside in Telangana who migrated, over the decades, from various districts of the Andhra and Rayalaseema regions prior to formation of Telangana on 2 June 2014.
They availed reservation facility in the undivided Andhra Pradesh since 23 September 1970 on the basis of recommendation of a commission of inquiry.
The commission prepared a list of 138 castes and communities eligible for reservations in the BC category that were prevalent in the composite State of Andhra Pradesh comprising 23 districts.
