Shabbir Ali demands meeting on Muslim quota case

Hyderabad, March 4 (INN): Leader of Opposition in Telangana State Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Friday demanded that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao convene an all party-meeting to discuss and finalise the legal strategy to defend 4% Muslim reservation case in the Supreme Court.

In a letter to the Chief Minister, Shabbir Ali accused the Telangana Government of adopting a non-serious approach in dealing with the case pertaining to 4% Muslim reservation going on in the Supreme Court of India. "I regret to say that no representative from the Telangana Government was present in the Supreme Court when the matter came up for hearing on February 29. I was told that the Telangana Government had submitted an intervention petition. However, no counsel or representative of Telangana Government was present when the issue was taken up. Even the Chief Justice informally enquired about the Telangana Government's representation as it needs to get implead as a respondent in view of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh," he said.

Led by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, a Constitutional Bench comprising of Justice Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla, Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde, Justice R. Banumathi and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, has been formed to hear the case on 4% Muslim reservation in Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana).

"I was physically present in the court as I had submitted intervention petition to implead in the case. I was represented by senior counsel and former Union Minister Salman Khursheed and his team comprising of Shakeel Ahmed, Uhme Jameel and Pervez Dabat. Senior counsel P.P. Rao appeared on behalf of Andhra Pradesh Government and the BC Commission was represented by senior advocate Muzifa Ahmed while advocate Krishna Mani appeared on behalf of those opposing 4% Muslim quota. But no representative of Telangana Government was present in the court," Shabbir Ali said.

Shabbir Ali pointed out that he had raised concerns on multiple occasions on the seriousness of Telangana Government in pursuing the 4% Muslim reservation case. "I strongly objected when Ramakrishna Reddy was appointed as the Advocate General. As an advocate, he had contested the case against Muslim reservation and therefore, he cannot be expected to defend the 4% Muslim reservation in the Supreme Court. I fear that the Telangana Government's weak representation on the issue might hurt the case in longer run," he said.

He said that the Muslim quota, which was given by previous Congress regime in 2004, has benefitted over 10 lakh socially and economically backward Muslim students so far. A non-serious approach by the State Government in defending the case might hurt thousands of poor Muslims across the Telangana.

"The next hearing in the case is scheduled to be held on April 18, 2016. Therefore, I strongly demand that you convene an all party meeting to discuss and finalise the legal strategy to be adopted to defend 4% Muslim reservation case in the Supreme Court and take appropriate action to represent the case on behalf of Telangana Government," Shabbir Ali demanded.