BENGALURU: The Justice HN Nagmohan Das Commission, which looked into the demand for increasing Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe reservation in Karnataka, has reportedly recommended raising the quota in educational institutions and government jobs.
A goverment official said the commission recommended increasing quota for STs to 5% and for SCs to 17%, keeping in mind the composition of the population. Currently, SCs have15% reservation and STs 3% and both groups had sought a hike up to 17% and 7.5%, respectively.
The four-member commission on Thursday met chief minister BS Yediyurappa and submitted the report. “We made recommendations according to the terms of references. We’re not authorised to divulge details. It’s for the government to make them public,’’ Justice Nagmohan Das told TOI.
He added that the government can accept or reject the report fully or partly. There’s no clarity yet on government action on the report. In fact, it’s not even clear whether the new quotas will come within the overall 50% ceiling set by the Supreme Court or will exceed it.
The commission was set up by the Congress- JD(S) coalition government a week before it collapsed last July.
ST community leaders have been demanding an increase in quota since 1991 after all synonymous names of the Valmiki community were classified as STs and this increased the population of STs significantly.
Last year, community members led by Prasannanand Puri Swami of Valmiki Gurupeetha had walked from Rajanahalli village in Davanagere to Bengaluru to press for the hike. He had threatened to topple the coalition government by getting MLAs of the community to resign.
Currently, all programmes related to the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are handled by the social welfare department Yediyurappa, who announced a separate secretariat for Scheduled Tribes in 2020-21, is under pressure from the Valmiki community given the discontent within the community over two of its leaders — B Sreeramulu and Ramesh Jarkiholi — missing out on becoming deputy chief ministers.
A goverment official said the commission recommended increasing quota for STs to 5% and for SCs to 17%, keeping in mind the composition of the population. Currently, SCs have15% reservation and STs 3% and both groups had sought a hike up to 17% and 7.5%, respectively.
The four-member commission on Thursday met chief minister BS Yediyurappa and submitted the report. “We made recommendations according to the terms of references. We’re not authorised to divulge details. It’s for the government to make them public,’’ Justice Nagmohan Das told TOI.
He added that the government can accept or reject the report fully or partly. There’s no clarity yet on government action on the report. In fact, it’s not even clear whether the new quotas will come within the overall 50% ceiling set by the Supreme Court or will exceed it.
The commission was set up by the Congress- JD(S) coalition government a week before it collapsed last July.
ST community leaders have been demanding an increase in quota since 1991 after all synonymous names of the Valmiki community were classified as STs and this increased the population of STs significantly.
Last year, community members led by Prasannanand Puri Swami of Valmiki Gurupeetha had walked from Rajanahalli village in Davanagere to Bengaluru to press for the hike. He had threatened to topple the coalition government by getting MLAs of the community to resign.
Currently, all programmes related to the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are handled by the social welfare department Yediyurappa, who announced a separate secretariat for Scheduled Tribes in 2020-21, is under pressure from the Valmiki community given the discontent within the community over two of its leaders — B Sreeramulu and Ramesh Jarkiholi — missing out on becoming deputy chief ministers.
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