The Assembly of Andhra Pradesh has unanimously passed the A.P. Kapu (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in Services under the State) Bill
- The Bill would now be sent to the Governor, who would refer it to the Central government for inclusion in the Schedule IX of the Constitution as the total reservations for the Backward Classes (BCs), the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribes (STs) had crossed the cap of 50% stipulated by the Supreme Court and reached 55%.
- With the Assembly passing this long-pending piece of legislation, the Kapu, Telaga, Balija and Ontari communities would get the quota under the new category ‘F’ in government jobs and seats in educational institutions, which would take the total reservation for six categories of the BCs to 34% (A-7%, B-10%, C-1%, D-7%, E-4% and F-5%).
- The SCs and the STs have 15% and 6% reservations respectively.
- The Commission had recommended 4% to 5% quota for the Kapus on the basis of the data provided by the government from the Pulse Survey and the feedback received by it at public hearings conducted in all 13 districts.
- Kapu reservation issue had a historical background dating back to the British regime, under which the Kapus were considered BCs but were deleted from that list when Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy was the Chief Minister
