The Supreme Court in an interim order upheld the validity of four per cent reservation provided to backward members of Muslim community in Andhra Pradesh. A bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices J M Panchal and B S Chauhan, however, referred the issue to a Constitution bench to examine the validity of the impugned Act. The bench passed the direction while dealing with a Special Leave Petition filed by the government against an order of Andhra Pradesh High Court which had earlier struck down the provision as being unconstitutional.<br/><br/>A seven-judge Constitution bench of the High Court had by a majority judgement of 5:2 held the Andhra Pradesh Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes of Muslims Act, 2007 unsustainable and violative of Article 14 (equality before law) and other provisions pertaining to prohibition of discrimination by State on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. The High Court, while setting aside the state Act, had also quashed a subsequent 2007 government order allocating four per cent reservation to Muslim groups in educational institutions and jobs.<br/>