The Karnataka Legislative Assembly passed the Karnataka Scheduled Castes (Sub-Classification) Bill, 2025, Thursday with both the treasury and opposition benches claiming credit for the landmark legislation.
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The passage of the Bill is expected to lift the freeze on government appointments effected last November, after the state government decided to make fresh appointments only after internal reservation for scheduled castes was sorted. Providing internal reservation was among the key manifesto promises of the ruling Congress.
Taking up the Bill for discussion, Social Welfare Minister Dr H C Mahadevappa said that a Supreme Court order in August 2024 empowered the state to implement internal reservation in the 17 per cent reservation granted to SC communities in the state. He noted that there were provisions to change the reservation matrix if required.
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The credit war over internal reservation began as Deputy Leader of Opposition Arvind Bellad highlighted that it was the BJP government under former CM Basavaraj Bommai who first announced internal reservation in the state. This was countered by IT/BT minister Priyank Kharge who sought to know why the BJP government had failed to implement it, noting that there were no legal provisions for the government to do so until the August 2024 SC order.
Bellad also objected to the government decision to revise the reservation matrix, which had granted one per cent reservation to nomadic and other minor SC communities in the state. He advised the government to ensure that the internal reservation formula finalised by the Justice Nagamohan Das Commission – six per cent each to SC left and SC right communities (Category A and B) and five per cent to other SC groups (Category C) – is implemented while giving promotion in government jobs.
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JD(S) legislator Suresh Gowda urged the government to fix reservation to SC communities proportional to their population. BJP MLA Krishna Nayak expressed fears that the fresh matrix where five per cent reservation is given to Category C could be diluted to accommodate nomadic tribes, thereby reducing reservation for the communities further.
Basavaraj Rayareddi, Economic advisor to CM Siddaramaiah, suggested increasing reservation for SC communities to 18 per cent, in order to ensure that castes in Category-C do not feel hard done by. “I urge the CM to explore the possibility and take legal advice regarding the same,” he said.
The Bill follows a Cabinet decision taken last week that approved the government decision to divide the 17 per cent internal reservation under three categories among 101 SC communities. Under this, 16 SC left communities get six per cent reservation under Category-A, 19 SC right communities get six per cent reservation under Category-B, and 63 other SC communities get five per cent reservation under Category-C.
Apart from this, three non-categorised SC castes – Adi Andhra, Adi Dravida and Adi Karnataka – will be eligible to opt for reservation under either Category-A or Category-B.