Hyderabad: Ina major development, the Telangana Cabinet on Saturday decided to go for a Government Order (GO) lifting the restrictions on the reservations in local body elections imposed by the previous BRS government. This will pave the way for implementing the 42 per cent quota for Backward Classes, taking overall reservations in the state beyond 50 per cent.

After issuing the GO, the government will go for local body elections in September to meet the deadline set by the Telangana High Court.

The Cabinet also decided to amend the existing Panchayat Raj Act 2018 which restricted reservations to 50 per cent. The Bill to amend the Act and revoke 50 per cent ceiling on reservations will be introduced in the ongoing Assembly session on Sunday.

The Cabinet also approved the names of Professor M Kodandaram and Mohd Azharuddin as MLC candidates under the Governor quota.

Briefing the press after the Cabinet meeting, Information and Public Relations Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy and BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said the Cabinet had approved the proposal to hold the local body elections before the deadline of September 30 set by the High Court. Since the two Bills providing BC quota and an Ordinance for the same were pending before the President of India, the ministers said that the Cabinet decided to amend the existing Panchayat Raj and Municipal Acts to provide BC quota and enforce it in the ensuing local body elections.

However, the ministers declined to comment on the pending Bills before the President. They maintained that the government would adhere to the legal procedure to implement the BC quota in the ensuing elections.

The Cabinet also ratified the names of Prof Kodandaram and Azharuddin as MLCs and forwarded them to the Governor for final approval. The Supreme Court already scrapped the earlier order of nominating Kodandaram as MLC under Governor quota. The fresh decision to re-nominate Kodandaram raised eyebrows.

Further, the Cabinet reviewed recent heavy rains and damage caused by them in the state. It instructed the authorities to submit a report on the extent of damage caused to agriculture, road network, infrastructure and irrigation sectors besides human and cattle loss.

The Chief Minister will hold a review meeting on Monday and announce a relief package for farmers and others.

The proposal to constitute Goshala Welfare Board was approved and it was decided to seek corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds from corporates to run cow shelters in the state.