The state government will soon reconstitute the Backward Classes Commission (BCC) which became defunct five months ago, according to sources.

After the reconstitution, the BCC will take up the issue of conducting a survey to study the backwardness in the Kapu community to determine whether the community people would be eligible to avail of BC reservations.

The issue goes back to two years ago when Rosaiah was chief minister. Ministers belonging to Kapu community led by Kanna Lakshminarayana urged him to order a survey by the BCC to determine the eligibility of Kapus for BC reservations. The old man agreed to the request and asked the then commission to conduct the necessary survey.

The commission, handicapped by lack of enough staff, requested the Hyderabad-based Indian Institution of Economics to do the needful. The Institute agreed to conduct the survey and asked for a fee of Rs.45 lakh with a condition that half of it should be paid in advance.

The government only paid Rs.10 lakh and failed to pay the balance. The Institute refused to take up the survey until the fifty percent of the fee was paid in advance. As the issue was dragged on, the commission term expired last September.

When contacted, Dalwai Subramanyam, the former chairman of the Commission, told a newspaper that it was not possible for the Commission to decide the eligibility of the Kapus for reservations without conducting the survey.

Reports said that agriculture minister Kanna Lakshminarayana and Vatti Vasanth Kumar will soon take up the issue with Chief Minister Kirankumar reddy. (J)