HC notice to Karnataka over revised SC/ST quota

Stating that he is an aspiring candidate to join the services in the state, the petitioner said that the state government is increasing the reservation of seats in educational institutions and appointments for posts in the services for persons belonging to SC and ST to 17 from 15 %, and to 7 % from 3 % respectively, which is unconstitutional.

The Karnataka high court has issued notice to the state government in a petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Act, 2023.

Karnataka high court has issued notice to the state government in a petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act (AFP)

A division bench of chief justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Ashok S Kinagi issued the notice after hearing the petition filed by Mahesh, a student of KLE Law College in Bengaluru.

Stating that he is an aspiring candidate to join the services in the state, the petitioner said that the state government is increasing the reservation of seats in educational institutions and appointments for posts in the services for persons belonging to SC and ST to 17 from 15 %, and to 7 % from 3 % respectively, which is unconstitutional.

“The Act is unconstitutional in the teeth of the law laid down by the SC in the Indra Sawhney Vs Union of India case in 1992 wherein it was categorically held that reservation under Article 16(4) shall not exceed 50%,” the petitioner has contended.

He has underlined that with reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBC) at 32%, the total reservation in the state would stand at 56%, violating the 50% ceiling set by the Supreme Court in 1992. The Supreme Court had held that reservations under Article 16(4) could exceed 50% only in exceptional circumstances. The petition has highlighted that similar legislation passed in Chhattisgarh was struck down by the High Court, as it sought to increase the reservation to 58%, the petition added.

The Karnataka legislature, during the legislature session in Belagavi in December, passed a bill to increase the reservation for Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (SC/STs) in the state. The State Cabinet on October 8 accorded its formal approval to increase the SC/ST quota and subsequently issued an ordinance.

The decision to increase SC/ST quota came after the recommendation from a commission headed by a retired high court judge justice H N Nagamohan Das.

The opposition parties had supported the passage of the bill but were sceptical about the government’s intention with the implementation. With the quota hike decision yet to be ring-fenced under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, leaving it vulnerable, as it takes the reservation tally in Karnataka to 56%, the opposition parties had been questioning the government on how they would implement it.

The government justified the hike in reservation with a detailed note citing various sections of the Constitution, state law minister JC Madhuswamy said.

“We have stressed that there were only six castes in Karnataka under SC earlier, to which now 103 castes, nomads and slum-dwellers have been added, so the population has enormously raised, and as the Constitution calls for adequate representation we will have to give about 17% reservation for SCs, hence the decision,” he explained.

Meanwhile, on February 10, Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said that the process of including the quota hike for the hike for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the ninth schedule of the Constitution has begun.