Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced the implementation of internal reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC) in Karnataka at the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday. This was based on a Cabinet decision taken a day earlier during a special meeting. He also announced that a permanent SC Commission will be formed, along the lines of the existing Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes.
The recommendations of the Justice Nagamohan Das Commission, which submitted its final report earlier this month, was approved with few modifications.
“SC Left communities will get 6 per cent internal reservation. We have decided to give 6 per cent to SC Right communities, which will include few communities such as Paraiah, Mogera and others who were previously classified as SC Left. Reservation for Adi Karnataka, Adi Andhra and Adi Dravida groups, who have a population of 4.75 lakh, will be equally shared in the SC Left and SC Right quota,” he said. Apart from this, ‘touchable’ communities and few other SC communities will get 5 per cent reservation.
While the government has decided to distribute the 17 per cent SC quota under three groups, the Justice Das Commission had recommended splitting the 101 castes under five heads. It suggested providing 6 per cent reservation to SC Left, 5.5 per cent for SC Right, 4 per cent to ‘touchable’ communities, 1 per cent to 53 castes classified as most backward among SCs, and 1 per cent for Adi Dravida, Adi Andhra and Adi Karnataka castes.
Siddaramaiah said that while the Commission had made five classifications, the Cabinet reduced it to three and cited “technical reasons” for the rationale behind the decision.
The announcement will allow the government to issue fresh notification for various government posts. The Cabinet, in November 2024, had decided to freeze recruitment until internal reservation for SC communities was finalised.
Siddaramaiah said that there will be a one-time age relaxation in the next recruitment cycle. “Cases filed against activists fighting for internal reservation will be withdrawn,” he said.
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Implementing internal reservation was among the promises made by the Congress in its manifesto for the 2023 Assembly polls. Faced with obstacles to implement internal reservation, it had put the ball in the Centre’s court in January 2024, saying that only the Centre could provide internal reservation through a constitutional amendment. However, a Supreme Court ruling in August 2024 allowed the state government to carve out quotas for various groups in the existing reservation provided for SC communities.