Process on to include SC/ST quota hike in ninth schedule: CM

The announcement came after the state cabinet on Thursday decided to recommend to the Centre to bring the new legislation enhancing reservation to SC/ST communities the under the 9th schedule of the Constitution.

Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said that the process of including the quota hike for the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in the ninth schedule of the Constitution has begun.

Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai said process of including quota hike for the SC/ST in ninth schedule of Constitution has begun. (ANI)

The announcement came after the state cabinet on Thursday decided to recommend to the Centre to bring the new legislation enhancing reservation to SC/ST communities the under the 9th schedule of the Constitution.

The cabinet that met here decided to send the proposal to the Centre and will also place the proposal before the legislature in the budget session.

While speaking at the inauguration of ‘Janajagruthi Jathra Mahotsav’ organised as part of Sri Maharshi Valmiki Jathra Mahotsav, in Davangere, the chief minister said: “Justice has been done to the oppressed communities as per Justice Nagmohan Das Commission report. While the reservation for the SC community has been hiked from 15% to 17%, and for the Scheduled Tribe community it is up from 3% to 7%. This will benefit the youths of those two communities in jobs and education,” Bommai noted.

Mere speeches will not ensure social justice, he said, adding the incumbent government has implemented the hiked quota, and it is being followed in government recruitment.

The Karnataka legislature, during the winter session in Belagavi in December, passed a bill to hike the reservation for SC/STs in the state. The Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or posts in the services under the state) Bill, 2022, increased reservation for SCs from 15% to 17 % and for STs from 3% to 7%.

The state cabinet on October 8 accorded its formal approval to increase the SC/ST quota and subsequently issued an ordinance in this regard. The decision to increase SC/ST quota was following the recommendation from a commission headed by a retired Karnataka 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, as the hike in the reservation would breach the 50 per cent ceiling fixed by the Supreme Court in the 1992 Indra Sawhney case.

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 as to 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.

(With inputs from PTI)