Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], April 14 (ANI): The Telangana government on Monday issued a notification, officially enforcing Scheduled Caste (SC) sub-categorization for all future recruitment and education-related decisions, following a detailed legal and administrative process.
The Act comes into force on April 14, making Telangana the first state in the country to implement SC sub-categorisation after the Supreme Court’s green signal.
Telangana Minister for Irrigation, Food & Civil Supplies Uttam Kumar Reddy, who also heads the cabinet subcommittee on the matter, said the policy aims to equitable distribute reservation benefits among SC subcastes.
“SCs in Telangana have a 15% reservation, there always has been a feeling that some of the SC sub-castes are getting more benefit than the others. So when the Supreme Court gave a judgement about 6-7 months back, giving the power of reservation of sub-castes to states, Telangana was the first state which announced in the assembly that we will not do any further job notification or filling up of job vacancies till we finish the categorization,” he said.
“So we went through an elaborate process, I am the cabinet sub-committee chairman, we also appointed a retired high court judge as a one-man judicial commission, we went through a very meticulous, systematic, legally valid process and we completed it and today we have issued the necessary orders and the law will be enforced from today in Telangana where all further issues in employment and education will be done as per SC categorization,” Reddy added.
He further informed that a meeting is scheduled for Tuesday to compile all departmental vacancies. “We are also having a meeting tomorrow to call for all the vacancies in all the departments, and we will give a notification in the next few days. In all of them, SC categorization will be applicable,” he said.
Supporting the move, Telangana Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha stated, “We are committed to social justice. This classification or categorisation is not against any community. It is for those communities among the Dalits who are most backward.”
Meanwhile, on Sunday, chairing the final meeting of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on SC Categorisation at the Secretariat, Uttam Kumar Reddy confirmed that a Government Order outlining the modalities of the Act will be issued on Ambedkar Jayanthi. The first copy of the Government Order will be handed over to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.
According to the release, the Sub-Committee meeting was attended by Vice Chairman and Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha, Ministers Seethakka and Ponnam Prabhakar, retired judge Justice Shamim Akhtar who headed the One-Man Commission, Principal Secretary for Welfare Sridhar, Law Secretary Tirupati and other senior officials. The committee thoroughly reviewed the implementation guidelines based on the recommendations of the Justice Shamim Akhtar Commission and gave its final approval for issuing the GO.
The Act aims to rationalise the existing 15% reservation for Scheduled Castes by categorising 59 SC sub-castes into three groups based on inter-se backwardness. Group I comprises 15 of the most disadvantaged communities, constituting 3.288% of the SC population, and is allocated a 1% reservation. Group II includes 18 moderately benefited communities, forming 62.74% of the SC population, and is allotted 9%. Group III consists of 26 relatively better-off communities, making up 33.963% of the SC population, and receives 5% reservation, the release said.
The Shamim Akhtar Commission, appointed in October 2024 following the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment on August 1, was tasked with studying socio-economic indicators across SC sub-castes. The Commission received over 8,600 representations and conducted a detailed analysis of population distribution, literacy levels, higher education admissions, employment trends, financial aid, and political participation. After initial submission, its tenure was extended by a month to address concerns raised by several communities, ensuring that every voice was heard before finalising the report, it added.
As per the release, Uttam Kumar Reddy said the Congress government under Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had delivered on a decades-old demand that was never fulfilled in united Andhra Pradesh or in Telangana. He pointed out that although several previous governments had passed resolutions supporting SC categorisation, none had implemented it with legal backing.
He recalled witnessing every Assembly session since 1999 where the issue was discussed but not resolved, adding that it was the Congress government that had shown the political will to act.
The Cabinet Sub-Committee also rejected the Commission’s recommendation to introduce a creamy layer within the SC category. Uttam Kumar Reddy clarified that the government was committed to ensuring equitable benefits without excluding any sub-group based on economic criteria. He assured that “no existing benefits would be diluted and that the categorisation was designed to enhance fairness while protecting the rights of all SC groups.” (ANI)
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