The Supreme Court on Friday refused to interfere with an Andhra Pradesh High Court judgment striking down the State Government’s decision to provide 34% reservation to Backward Classes in elections to rural and urban local bodies, questioning the evidentiary basis on which the enhanced quota had been determined.
A Bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Sheel Nagu dismissed the State’s special leave petition, observing that the High Court had adopted a reasonable approach in scrutinising the data relied upon to justify the reservation.
Appearing for the Andhra Pradesh Government, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi questioned the High Court’s decision to reject the State’s data as unreliable.
The Bench, however, sought to know how the High Court could be said to have erred in finding that the Unified Family Survey relied upon by the State was not relevant to determining the permissible quantum of reservation.
Justice Datta questioned the statutory basis of the survey and asked the State to establish why its findings could be treated as a valid foundation for fixing the quota at 34%. Finding no ground to interfere with the High Court’s reasoning, the Bench dismissed the petition.
The challenge arose from the High Court’s decision to quash Government Orders Nos. 105 and 1065, through which the State had provided enhanced reservation for Backward Classes in local body elections.
The High Court had held that the enhanced quota resulted in the total reservation exceeding the 50% ceiling recognised by the Supreme Court in Indra Sawhney v. Union of India (1992). It also found that the State had not produced adequate empirical data to justify the departure from the prescribed limit.
The State approached the Supreme Court seeking reversal of the High Court’s ruling, contending that the data underlying its reservation policy had been wrongly discarded.
The Supreme Court’s dismissal of the petition leaves the High Court’s judgment undisturbed.
Case Title: The State of Andhra Pradesh v. Thandava Yogesh
Case No.: SLP(C) No. 35539/2026
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