High Court strikes down Karnataka’s 56 pc quota for SCs, STs

A bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice K.S. Hemalekha passed the order while considering a public interest litigation filed by Mahendra Kumar Mitra.

Bengaluru: In a significant setback to Karnataka’s reservation policy, the High Court has quashed the state’s decision to raise the reservation quota for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to 17 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice K.S. Hemalekha passed the order while considering a public interest litigation filed by Mahendra Kumar Mitra. The petitioner had challenged the law providing enhanced reservation in educational institutions and state government services under the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation) Act, 2022.

The government’s decision had increased the combined reservation for SCs and STs from 18 per cent to 24 per cent, taking the state’s overall reservation percentage from 50 per cent to 56 per cent. The High Court has now struck down the measure that enabled the increase.

Before the revision, Scheduled Castes were entitled to a 15 per cent reservation and Scheduled Tribes to 3 per cent. The Justice Nagamohan Das Committee, constituted to examine the issue, recommended increasing the SC share to 17 per cent and the ST share to 7 per cent, citing population-based considerations.

The recommendations received political backing at an all-party meeting, following which the then BJP government under Basavaraj Bommai initiated steps to implement the proposed changes.

The state Cabinet approved a draft measure aimed at enhancing reservation for the Scheduled Communities. The government subsequently promulgated an ordinance, which received the Governor’s assent. A special gazette notification was later issued to formalise the revised quotas.

Under the new arrangement, the SC reservation was increased by two percentage points, while the ST quota was raised by four percentage points. The changes applied to 103 sub-castes categorised under the Scheduled Castes and 56 sub-groups recognised under the Scheduled Tribes.

The increase was intended to revise the representation of the two communities in educational institutions and government employment. However, the legislation faced a legal challenge over the decision to increase the total reservation beyond the existing 50% level.

The petitioner approached the High Court questioning the validity of the enhanced reservation framework. After hearing the public interest litigation, the division bench ordered the cancellation of the government’s decision to raise the overall quota to 56%.

The judgment places Karnataka’s enhanced reservation arrangement under renewed legal and political scrutiny. The state government may now have to examine the legal options available to it following the court’s decision.

The ruling is particularly consequential for government recruitment and admissions processes in which the enhanced SC and ST quotas were intended to apply. The precise effect on ongoing or future processes will depend on the court’s directions and any further orders or appeals in the matter.

The case is a major development in the state’s efforts to implement the Justice Nagamohan Das Committee’s recommendations, which had received support from political parties before the government introduced the revised reservation structure.