The Central government on Wednesday gave green signal to the legislation enacted by the previous Telugu Desam Party government headed by N Chandrababu Naidu in the assembly providing five per cent reservation to Kapus under Economically Weaker Sections category.
Replying to a question raised by Bharatiya Janata Party MP G V L Narasimha Rao in Rajya Sabha, Union minister of state for social justice Pratima Bhoumik said the legislation passed by the state assembly in 2019 was legal and valid.
She said there was no need for any state to take the ratification of the Centre to provide reservations for any case under EWS category.
Since providing five percent quota to Kapus under EWS category was within the jurisdiction of the state government, the act passed by the state assembly was legal and valid, she said.
The Centre made it clear that as per the 105th Constitutional amendment bill passed by the Parliament in 2021, the state government can prepare its own list of EWS category communities.
Since the Centre had already passed a law providing 10 percent quota for EWS, the state doesn’t have to take permission of the Centre to provide five per cent quota to Kapus, the minister said.
The Central government’s law has cleared the decks for providing five per cent quota for Kapus. The Jagan government has been dodging the same stating that the ball was in the court of the Centre all these days.
Now that the Centre itself has given the clarification, Jagan can take a positive decision and it would fetch mileage to him to attract Kapus.