Karnataka govt gives nod to give internal reservation among Scheduled Castes

'In the wake of the Supreme Court's recent verdict regarding internal reservation among SCs, the cabinet today gave its approval to provide internal reservation among SCs,' said Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil.

Bengaluru: The Karnataka cabinet on Monday gave its consent for providing internal reservation among Scheduled Castes (SC) and decided to constitute a commission that will be tasked with collecting empirical data.

The commission will be constituted under a retired High Court judge, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.

"Regarding providing internal reservation among SC there were demands, discussions and thinking, in Karnataka. In the wake of the Supreme Court's recent verdict regarding internal reservation among SCs, the cabinet today gave its approval to provide internal reservation among SCs," Patil said.

"....after obtaining the data, it has been decided to decide on the next course of action. The government will ask the committee to submit the report in three months," he said.

Patil said the cabinet also decided to postpone all upcoming recruitments for at least three months until the commission submits its report.

"From today if any recruitment is to be notified, that process will not take place, it will only start after the commission submits its report," he said.

Just ahead of the assembly polls, the previous BJP government's cabinet had taken a decision on internal reservation, by recommending to the central government a six per cent internal quota for SC (Left), 5.5 per cent for SC (Right), 4.5 per cent for "touchables" (Banjara, Bhovi, Korcha, Kuruma etc) and one per cent for others.

In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court on August 1 held that states are constitutionally empowered to make sub-classifications within the Scheduled Castes, which form a socially heterogeneous class, for granting reservation for the uplift of castes that are socially and educationally more backward.

A seven-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, by a majority of 6:1, set aside the apex court's five-judge bench verdict of 2004 in the EV Chinnaiah vs State of Andhra Pradesh case which had held that no sub-classification of Scheduled Castes (SCs) can be allowed as they are a homogeneous class in themselves.