Former chairman of Telangana State BC Commission Vakulabharanam Krishna Mohan Rao questioned the secrecy behind the submission of report of the Bhusani Venkateswara Rao Dedicated Commission to Chief Secretary Shanti Kumari.
In a statement here, he said that though the government does not need to make the report public immediately, the fact that the Chief Secretary’s office has not officially announced the submission raises doubts. Recalling the assurance of Minister for BC Welfare Ponnam Prabhakar in his recent meeting with BC intellectuals and associations that the government would take positive decisions on their demands, he said it was disappointing that the government secretly obtained the Dedicated Commission’s report. Further, the Chief Minister himself did not receive the report, he claimed.
He said in other States BC reservation studies were conducted based on voter lists, following the Supreme Court’s Triple Test criteria. These states submitted comprehensive reports, which were approved by the Supreme Court. However, as these states ensured that BC reservations did not cross the 50% ceiling, there was no legal issue, unlike in Telangana, the government promised 42% reservations for BCs in local body elections.
The State conducted a comprehensive door-to-door caste survey and that data should have been officially handed over to the Dedicated Commission, he said. Mr. Krishnamohan Rao termed the Commission’s work more ‘tokenistic than systematic’ and claimed that there was no evidence that the Commission followed scientific methodologies, held public hearings, or consulted experts.
He demanded that the government conduct a re-survey to collect population data and publish caste-wise statistics scientifically.
Published - February 11, 2025 08:12 pm IST
