‘Cap Is 50%’: SC Dismisses Telangana Govt’s Plea Against HC Order On Quota To Backward Classes

Supreme Court | File Image

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed Telangana government’s plea challenging the High Court’s interim stay on expanded reservations – past the 50 per cent cap set by the top court in its landmark 1992 Indra Sawhney judgment – for Other Backward Classes, or OBC, communities.

In its plea, the state argued that increasing quotas – granting 42 per cent reservation for OBCs for local body elections, which meant overall quotas would be 67 per cent – is ‘a policy decision.

Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta dismissed the state’s plea against the October 9 order of the Telangana High Court and observed that several judgments don’t allow for the breach of the 50 percent ceiling limit.

The high court had issued an interim stay against the government order.

The high court, which was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the state government’s order that increased the Backward Classes quota, had directed the state to file its reply in four weeks.

Some of the petitioners before the high court challenged the September 26, 2025, government order, saying the 42 per cent quota to Backward Classes raises total reservation in local bodies to 67 per cent. It breaches the 50 per cent ceiling on reservations laid down by the court in its verdicts, they claimed.