Karnataka governor gives assent to SC/ST quota ordinance

BENGALURU: Karnataka governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot on Sunday gave assent to the government's decision to increase the quota for Scheduled Caste from 15% to 17% and that of Scheduled Tribes from 3% to 7%. The ordinance does not specify whether the government will rework the quota with the existing 50% or breach the ceiling. CM Basavaraj Bommai called it a Deepavali gift.
Gover nor Thaawar Chand Gehlot on Sunday gave his assent to an ordinance moved by the state government to increase reservation for Scheduled Castes from 15% to 17% and Scheduled Tribes from 3% to 7%.
The ordinance states the new matrix will be implemented in seats in educational institutions, including faculty posts, and services under the state government.
However, it does not say how the new quota will be accommodated — whether the government will tweak the existing matrix to stay within the Supreme Court’s 50% cap or exceed it. But the ordinance “approves” powers of the government to make provisions to “remove any difficulties” to implement the hike in reservation quota.
The ordinance also states that the Justice Subash Adi commission set up by the state government to assess whether the increase in reservation, as recommended by the Justice Nagmohan Das committee, can be implemented, had said that these are “special circumstances”.
The report by Justice Adi, as mentioned in the ordinance, states that studies by the National Law School of India University show 74% of the tribal community have remained invisible and literacy rates are lower than 3%.
Further, the commission also mentions that if there is a comparison made in the number of castes under SCs and STs with the other states, then it can be seen that though other states have notified a smaller number of castes their percentage of reservation is higher than Karnataka.
The Karnataka government says there are currently 103 SC castes and 56 ST communities in Karnataka.