The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Andhra Pradesh government on a petition challenging the Constitutional validity of an ordinance granting four per cent reservation to Muslims in professional colleges.

Without passing any interim order, a bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan sought reply from the Andhra Pradesh government whether the creamy layer has been excluded or not from the benefit of the reservation. The court fixed September 28 as the next date of hearing.

Senior advocate Arun Jaitley informed court that the matter had to be heard urgently as the state government would finalise the admission process by September 30.

The petition filed by T Murlidhar Rao and K Sriteja challenged the Andhra Pradesh High Court order declining to stay the ordinance issued by the state government on July 6, 2007, under which it provided four per cent reservations to several sub sects within the Muslim community by treating them as backward classes.