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The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, flanked by the Minister for Information and Public Relations, Mr Mohammed Ali Shabbir, and the Minister for Minorities Welfare, Mr Mohammed Fareeduddin, reacting to the High Court ruling quashing the 5 per cent reservation for Muslims on Monday. - P.V. Sivakumar

Hyderabad , Nov. 7

STUNG by a five-judge full bench Andhra Pradesh High Court judgment declaring the move to create reservations for Muslims in the State as unconstitutional, the State Government has decided to take the matter to the Apex Court.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday after learning about the dismissal of the Ordinance in the Andhra Pradesh High Court, the Chief Minister, Dr Y. S. Rajashekhara Reddy, said that the Government was in the process of analysing the judgment details and the court's observations.

The Government counsel has taken the court's consent for filing a special leave petition in the Supreme Court. The State Government had through Ordinance 13 sought to bring about five per cent reservation for Muslims in the State covering all aspects, right from education to employment. On a petition filed against the Ordinance, the court had earlier ruled that it was unconstitutional. However, the State Government sought to implement this again after making certain changes in the Ordinance. However, this time too, the full bench of the court dismissed it as unconstitutional.

The five-judge bench comprising the Acting Chief Justice, Mr Bilal Nazki, Mr Justice G. Raghuram, Mr Justice N.V. Ramana, Mr Justice V. V. S. Rao and Mr Justice R. Subhash Reddy, unanimously declared the Ordinance as violative of Article 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution.

Defending the Government's stand and the election promise to bring in reservations for Muslims, Dr Reddy said all necessary steps would be taken to see that this was implemented. The High Court has granted status quo ante for four weeks for all the actions taken by the Government with regard to reservation.

PTI adds: The court disapproved of the reservation policy on the basis of religion. It also found fault with the procedure adopted by the state Backward Classes Commission whose report had formed the basis for the government to decide on 5 per cent reservation for Muslims keeping in view their social and economic status.

Several BC organisations and students had moved the High Court, challenging the reservation policy. The petitioners had contended that with the Muslim quota, the total reservations in the State had exceeded 50 per cent.

"The entire process is vitiated by arbitrariness and failure to adopt reasonable criteria. Thus the reservation act is ultra vires of the Constitution," the court observed.

However, the Bench refused to set aside the admissions made to the professional colleges recently on the basis of the impugned Ordinance.

Speaking for the Bench, Justice Nazki observed that the BC Commission went about the job ``mechanically'' and did not look into the peculiar customs prevalent among Muslim community, which may have contributed to their backwardness socially and educationally.

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