Give adequate posts to Muslim advocates, Shabbir to KCR

Hyderabad: Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Monday wrote a letter to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao alleging that Muslim advocates were ignored while filling up various posts in the Law Department. He said of as many as 178 appointments were made for different posts, but the advocates from Muslim community were given six postings only.

While their presence in the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad was negligible, their presence in other courts in Telangana State was almost nil. Of 28 Government Pleaders, only one was a Muslim and of 57 Assistant Government Pleaders, only three were given to Muslim advocates. Similarly, out of 64 Standing Counsels, only two Muslim advocates were appointed. The overall representation of Muslim advocates in the recently made appointments was just 3.37 per cent," alleged Shabbir Ali.

Stating that Muslims constituted over 14 per cent of the total population in Telangana and also enjoy 4 per cent reservation in jobs and education, Shabbir Ali said more number of Muslims could have been appointed to different posts as the quota was not applied in these recruitments. "These appointments, in any manner, do not reflect your commitment to provide 12 per cent reservation to Muslims in jobs and quota.

Apart from failure to adopt a liberal approach in giving sufficient representation to Muslims in direct recruitments, the government did not even match the existing 4 per cent quota while making these appointments," he said. Similarly, Shabbir Ali said the advocates belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes too were not given adequate representation.

The government tried to send a wrong message to people that advocates belonging to SC, ST, BC and minority communities were not efficient to represent the State Government in different courts, he alleged.