NEW DELHI: Former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Durai Swamy Raju, will head the one-man commission to go into the issue of categorisation of Scheduled Castes in the country with specific reference to Andhra Pradesh.

The Justice Raju Committee has been asked to submit the report in one year, sources in the Union Cabinet told The Hindu on Thursday. The Union Cabinet took this decision amid a debate whether the commission should be set up in Delhi or Hyderabad.

The Andhra Pradesh Government as well as the Madiga Porata Samiti has been requesting the Centre to take a view on the issue of categorisation following the decision of the Supreme Court stepping down A, B, C and D categorisation of members of the community.

Hyderabad Special Correspondent writes:

Meanwhile, Dalit leaders later called on Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in his office to thank him for his efforts in helping break the two-year-old impasse on the issue of classifying the Scheduled Castes. Among them were Manda Krishna, founder president of the Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS), Nandi Yellaiah, MP, Manikya Vara Prasad, Congress MLA, N. Tippeswamy, former MLA and Mallu Ravi, Special Representative of the State Government in New Delhi.

The Chief Minister said he was happy that the Union Cabinet decided to appoint a one-man committee to resolve the dispute of sub-categorisation. "It is a long pending demand and both sides agreed to it. I am happy at the outcome," he added. Mr. Manda Krishna said he was grateful to the Chief Minister for keeping his word. "This decision will go a long way in improving the quality of life of the deprived sections among the SCs," he said.

After a protracted struggle by the Madiga community from 1994, the Government issued an order classifying SCs into A, B. C & D categories based on the recommendations of the Ramachandra Rao Commission in 1997.

As the order was struck down by a single judge of the High court, the Government promulgated an ordinance which received the President's assent in November 1999. SC categorisation came into force in 2000 but four years later the Supreme Court struck down the law.

The Chief Minister led an all-party delegation to the Prime Minister on May 19, 2006, to amend the Central law to give effect to the reservations but this did not find favour as the SC classification was opposed in other States. But, the Centre is now inclined to do a rethink to the issue.

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