Hyderabad: On Thursday, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy announced that the Telangana government will categorize Scheduled Castes (SCs) into sub-classes A, B, C, and D, in accordance with a landmark Supreme Court verdict on SC sub-classification. During an assembly session, Reddy stated that the state government would also implement reservations for Madiga and Mala sub-castes in upcoming job notifications.

"In the context of the Supreme Court's verdict on categorization, I recall that the previous government had suspended Sampath Kumar. On December 23, 2023, we sent Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka, Advocate General, and Minister Damodar Rajanarsimha to the Supreme Court to argue on the categorization issue," said Reddy.

"Our efforts have borne fruit. We sincerely thank the Supreme Court's Constitutional Bench for its verdict. In line with the Supreme Court's verdict, the Telangana government will decide on categorizing A, B, C, and D. We will also ensure reservations for Madiga and Mala sub-castes in the current job notifications. If necessary, we will issue an ordinance to this effect," the chief minister added.

Earlier, the Supreme Court ruled by a majority judgment of 6:1 that sub-classification within SC/ST reservations is permissible. A 7-judge bench, led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, overruled a previous 5-judge bench decision in the EV Chinnaiah case, which had held that sub-classification was not permissible because SC/STs form homogenous classes.

Besides CJI Chandrachud, the other judges on the bench were Justices BR Gavai, Vikram Nath, Bela M Trivedi, Pankaj Mithal, Manoj Misra, and Satish Chandra Sharma. Justice Bela M Trivedi, in a dissenting opinion, disagreed with the majority judgment.

The seven-judge Constitution Bench dealt with issues relating to the sub-classification of reserved communities like SCs and STs. CJI Chandrachud, while overruling the judgment on Chinnaiah, stated that even at the lowest levels, the struggles within the class do not disappear with their representation.

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