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Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday quashed the four per cent reservation for Muslims saying the reservation was not sustainable and could not be implemented.

"The recommendations of the backward caste community is not sustainable so the enactment is also not sustainable," the seven-member bench observed.

The Congress government in the state had passed an Act on July 23, 2007 giving four per cent reservations in education and government jobs to 15 backward groups among Muslims.

Many petitions were filed in the High Court challenging the constitutional and legal validity of the the Andhra Pradesh Reservation in Favour of Socially and Educational Backward Classes of Muslims Act-2007.

A five-judge bench started hearing the case in 2007 but it was transferred to a seven-member bench in January 2008.

The Supreme Court had earlier refused to stay admissions to educational institutions under the quota, and asked the Andhra High Court to give the final verdict.

The YS Rajasekhara Reddy government had attempted to give five per cent reservations through an executive order, but it was quashed by the High Court in 2005.

More on: Muslim, Quota, Andhra Pradesh