Hyderabad, Nov 4 (IANS): Leaders of backward classes organisations on Monday thanked Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy after he decided to constitute a dedicated Commission to conduct an empirical data survey over reservations for Backward Classes in local bodies.

The state government on Sunday decided to constitute an exclusive Commission as per the orders of the Telangana High Court.

The government had earlier entrusted the task to the Backward Classes Commission.

Former Rajya Sabha member and BC leader R Krishniah, on whose petition the High Court had asked the state government to constitute a dedicated Commission, met Chief Minister Revanth Reddy at his Jubilee Hills residence and thanked him.

MLA D. Nagender, Fishermen Commission chairman Mettu Sai Kumar and other BC Sangham leaders, also thanked the Chief Minister.

At a meeting on Sunday, the Chief Minister instructed the officials to take the necessary steps to constitute the dedicated Commission by Monday.

The Chief Minister held a review meeting at his residence in Jubilee Hills. The meeting discussed the recent High Court order.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief Mahesh Kumar Goud, ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy, Sridhar Babu, Damodar Raja Narasimha and senior officials attended the meeting.

The decision was taken to ensure that there are no legal hurdles in the finalisation of the BC quota in the local bodies.

The government has already decided to launch the social, economic, educational, employment and caste survey in the entire state on November 6. The Chief Minister asserted that the Court orders should be followed to avoid legal hurdles and other difficulties in the implementation of BC reservation in the local bodies.

The state Government reviewed the issues raised by the High Court in the conduct of Caste enumeration and reservation in the local bodies. The Chief Minister made it clear that the government is not biased and that it will act transparently in providing reservations in the local bodies.

The High Court last week directed the state government to establish a dedicated commission within two weeks to conduct a thorough empirical data survey to facilitate reservations for backward classes in the upcoming local body elections and submit a compliance report.

A single-judge bench found the state’s existing approach of tasking the BC Commission with data collection contrary to the Supreme Court’s judgment in ‘Vikas Kumar Gavali vs. the State of Maharashtra’.

The Supreme Court had mandated that a distinct commission must be constituted specifically for empirical data collection related to reservations for backward classes.

The High Court passed the orders on a writ petition filed by Krishnaiah, who urged the court to order a dedicated commission, separate from the BC Commission, to collect data.