The Telangana High Court has ordered the state government to provide a timeline by August 27 for conducting a survey on reservations for Backward Classes (BCs) in local body elections. This directive follows petitions advocating for category-wise reservations, including for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, and stems from a Supreme Court mandate that states establish a dedicated commission to perform an empirical survey of various BC categories before determining reservation levels. Petitioners have challenged the authority of the BC Finance Corporation to conduct this survey, arguing that it should be executed by a dedicated commission instead. In response to the petitions, the Telangana government had designated the existing BC Commission as the 'Dedicated Commission' for this task in 2021. The urgency for the survey is linked to upcoming local body elections, with petitioners requesting that election notifications be issued only after the completion of the survey. Further hearings on the matter are scheduled for August 27.