Hyderabad: After a daylong hearing, amid heated arguments, on petitions pertaining to the government’s proposal to provide 42 per cent reservation to Backward Classes (BCs), the Telangana High Court on Wednesday adjourned further hearing to Thursday afternoon.

The court is expected to deliver a decisively significant judgment on the contentious issue.

The proceedings witnessed fiery arguments between eminent lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the state government, and the judges. Considering the critical importance of the enhancement of BC quota ahead of the local body elections that are round the corner, all BC ministers in the State cabinet were present in the court.

Interestingly, the High court did not stay the election process, as the State Election Commission (SEC) is scheduled to release the official notification for the polls on Thursday. Singhvi informed the bench that the election schedule has already been released, and as per established legal precedents, courts should not interfere once the election process has begun.

He submitted a copy of the election notification to the court and argued that granting a stay at this stage would not be appropriate.

He further stated that the BC reservation bill was introduced only after a comprehensive study, and the government had issued the relevant GO (No 9).

He urged the court to take a decision on the GO only after hearing arguments from both sides.

Singhvi assured the court that they would present full submissions. Following this, the High Court adjourned the hearing to Thursday afternoon for further proceedings.

Meanwhile, soon thereafter ministers Ponnam Prabhkar, V Srihari and Konda Sureka and government whips met Advocate General Sudhar Shan Reddy in the court premises and discussed the government’s readiness to submit all the required data in support of their quota enhancement move.

Speaking to newsmen along with TPCC President Mahesh Kumar Goud, the BC welfare minister said that the government is confident of winning the case as the court had not raised objections to the notification by the state election commission. The MPTC, ZPTC and Gram Panchayat elections will be held as per the schedule announced by the commission, Goud said.