In a historic move, Telangana has become the first state in India to classify regular castes, and was led by then-Chief Justice Dy Chandrachud, who allowed it on August 1, 2024, just eight months after the seven judges in the Supreme Court.
With the Communiqué Notice of the Telangana Pre-destined Castes (“Reservation Rationalization) Act of April 14, 2025, the Congressional Government, led by CM A. Revanth Reddy, ensures the retention benefits granted to people belonging to the Pre-destined Castes.
The need to subclassify the reserved categories stems from the fact that the most marginalized parts of the pre-determined caste cannot obtain the benefits of the Constitution extending to their reservation.
In judgments based on subcategories of predefined castes, Justice Chandrachud, Br Gavai and Pankaj Mithal observed that statistics indicate that the most vulnerable and marginalized individuals fail to benefit from the higher level of reservations.
Judge Mithal also pointed out that only children of wealthy or urbanized castes can use the retention benefits, emphasizing ongoing inequality. Since 1994, it has been the pre-determined caste, especially the Madigas and its successor states, since 1994, in the undivided Andhra Pradesh and its successor states, and since 1994, it has been the main arguments of the planned caste, especially the supporters of Madigas, and in particular the Madigas.
Due to the need for classification, the Andhra Pradesh Government established the Ramachandra Rao Committee on 10 September 1996, which recommended that the SC reservation be incorporated into the A, B, C and D groups.
Although Kr Narayanan at the time approved the subcategory on 30 November 1999, the Supreme Court rejected the judgment in its judgment in Ev Chinnaiah v Andhra Pradesh v Andhra Pradesh, noting that only Parliament has the authority to decide on the subcategory. However, the Supreme Court judges have now given states the freedom to classify the reserved community.
Because Telangana’s law on subcategories ensures fairness among pre-determined castes, it conforms to the philosophy of affirmative action or active discrimination, aimed at correcting past and present discrimination in poverty in history. It will create more opportunities in the SC for the most marginalized parts, such as employment, education and housing.
Although Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Bihar have proposed special quotas for the most vulnerable Dalits, the Telangana government has addressed this in a holistic way by appointing a single-person classification committee in the SC reservation category.
Drawing clues from Telangana, the Andhra Pradesh government led by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu approved the recommendations of a one-person SC subcategory committee and announced that it would implement the recommended areas after the 2026 census.
As more states decide to plan subcategories of castes, the focus may shift to the extent of lag among communities, potentially allowing thousands of people to benefit from government affirmative action measures.
