16th December, 2018 (Telangana Current Affairs Bits)

In pursuance of the Supreme Court verdict, the Telangana government issued an ordinance amending the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act, 2018, restricting the upper ceiling in reservation of seats and offices in local bodies to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes to a maximum of 50 per cent. Note: The Telangana Panchayat Raj Act provided that the number of seats and offices reserved for BCs in gram panchayats, mandal praja parishads and zilla parishads shall not be less than 34 per cent. It also provided that the reservation of seats (wards) and offices in gram panchayats, mandal parishads and zilla parishads for STs and SCs should be in proportion to the percentage of their population in the State. But, as per the apex court judgment, the total reservations in favour of SC, STs and BCs should not exceed 50 per cent. The Hyderabad High Court stayed a GO issued by the Telangana government providing reservation to SC, ST and BC in excess of 50 per cent in local body elections.

The state which has 31 districts will now have two more new districts - Mulugu and Narayanpet with totalling 33 districts