On October 20, the Karnataka cabinet chaired by CM Basavaraj Bommai decided to promulgate an ordinance increasing the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe reservation in the state.
Following the meeting on Thursday, the state Cabinet altered its decision and chose to promulgate an ordinance instead of an executive order that it had earlier agreed to issue on October 15 to increase the reservation for the SC/ST communities.
The Cabinet on October 8 accorded its formal approval to increase the SC/ST quota.
Talking about the change in the decision to promulgate an ordinance instead of an executive order, state law minister J C Madhuswamy said: “We had earlier felt that executive decision would be enough, but later realized that if it is questioned in a court of law, it may lead to issues, so we have decided to bring in an ordinance.”
”Today my cabinet has taken a historic decision of approving the ordinance on hiking the reservation for my brothers and sisters from the SC/ST community, from 15% to 17% and 3% to 7%. This historic decision will bring light and shine into their lives and uplift them by providing adequate opportunity in education and employment”, Chief Minister Basvaraj Bommai announced on Twitter.
The ordinance will raise reservations for SCs from 15% to 17% and for STs from 3% to 7% once promulgated following the governor’s approval. However, this will increase the reservation tally to 56%, above the Supreme Court-fixed cap of 50%.
Hence the government would recommend bringing the quota hike under the 9th Schedule of the Constitution to give it legal protection, in the coming days. “Following the decision to enhance the SC/ST reservation, we introduced a bill to this effect before the cabinet, and it was decided to send it to the governor to promulgate an ordinance,” law minister J C Madhuswamy said.
Based on a recommendation from a committee chaired by retired high court judge HN Nagmohan Das, who proposed raising reservations for SCs from 15% to 17% and for STs from 3% to 7%, the Cabinet decided to increase the quota.
After an all-party meeting on October 8, the Leader of the opposition Siddaramaiah welcomed the government’s decision. “Since there is a BJP government in the state and Centre, they have to put pressure and implement it,” he said.
