Hyderabad, July 29^th: The AP High Court on Wednesday stayed the ongoing process for elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation till the final disposal of writ petitions field against the elections. The petitions deal with exclusion of creamy layer from Backward Classes and categorizing the reservations. The court will hear the matter again in the third week of August. This effectively put back the GHMC elections to October.

Officials said identification of creamy layer, those earning more than 4 lakh a year, among Backward Classes will require three to four months. Officials will have to seek income and caste certificates from BC voters to identify the creamy layer. Subsequently the GHMC will have to categories the BC voters into A, B, C, D and E groups. The government is likely to move the Supreme Court against the High Courts interim orders. Even if the government secures a stay, the process will take up to a week.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice Ramesh Ranganathan while passing an interim order said “Pending disposal of writ petitions there shall be stay in further proceedings including issuance of an election notification for elections to the GHMC”. The order now passed will not preclude the authorities from identifying and excluding the creamy layers among BCs and there after conducting elections to the GHMC in accordance with the law.