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K’taka: Ordinance to hike SC, ST reservation gets guv’s nod
The Karnataka Cabinet on October 20 had decided to promulgate an ordinance increasing the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) reservation in the state.
Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said that governor Thawar Chand Gehlot has given his assent to the ordinance promulgated by the state government to hike the quota for SC/ST communities. Bommai, however, said that the ordinance will be passed in the next assembly session.
The Karnataka Cabinet on October 20 had decided to promulgate an ordinance increasing the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) reservation in the state.
Earlier, the government had decided to issue an executive order to increase the quota, however, following Thursday’s meeting the decision was changed to promulgate an ordinance. The development was made public via a gazette notification. The gazette notification said the number of castes increased drastically after the inclusion of some more communities. The total population of SCs and STs in the state went up by leaps and bounds, it added.
The Cabinet on October 8 had accorded its formal approval to increase the SC/ST quota.
The ordinance will increase reservations for SCs from 15% to 17%and for STs from 3% to 7%. This will, however, take the reservation tally in Karnataka to 56%, above the 50% cap fixed by the Supreme Court in the Indira Sawhney judgement.
Speaking to the reporters, Bommai said that the reservation for the backward classes will be decided after receiving the commission’s report. “It is not possible to comment on taking out any community from a reservation or including any community under reservation as it has to be decided as per the Constitution and within the ambit of the legal framework. Since the reservation issue is sensitive, as head of the state, I have to work in accordance with the Constitution and legal framework,” he said.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief DK Shivakumar claimed that it was because of the Congress that people from the SC/ST communities were availing jobs on the basis of reservation.
“It is due to the Congress that the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are getting jobs on the basis of reservation. We had formed a committee headed by Justice Nagmohan Das on the issue of providing this reservation. Congress had also demanded the implementation of the committee’s report. It is our party’s belief that justice should be done for these communities. We have expressed our support for this reservation,” he said.
“He (the CM) had promised to increase reservations within 24 hours of coming to power, but did not. Now at the last moment, he has done it under pressure. He could have done it on the day he came to power. There is still a double-engine government. Therefore, instead of an ordinance, a special session should be convened in the state to discuss it and get the reservation approved, then send it to the central government and amend the Constitution in the 9th Schedule and bring this reservation in the form of a record. Don’t just try to convince people with an ordinance,” he added.
(With agency inputs)
