Under pressure, Karnataka to revise internal quota for SC community

BENGALURU: Under pressure from the Left-sectarian Scheduled Caste (SC) community and its two ministers, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karanataka has decided to revisit its earlier decision to fill 56,432 government posts without internal reservation. The Cabinet is expected to consider the issue of introducing internal reservation on a proportional basis within the existing 15% SC quota in its meeting on Thursday.A few days ago, Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot approved the Karnataka Scheduled Caste Subdivision Bill, 2025, which provides for internal quotas among scheduled caste communities. The bill, passed in December last year, proposed to increase the overall reservation rate in SCs from 15% to 17% and distribute it to 101 SC communities. Gehlot’s agreement came in the wake of protests by job seekers in Dharwad, who demanded that the government fill nearly 2.5 lakh vacancies in various departments. Recruitment has been largely frozen since October 2024 to facilitate an internal quota system. Under the 17% structure in the bill signed by Grote, the left (16 communities) will get 6% under category A, the right (19 communities) will get 6% under category B and 63 communities will get 5% under category C. Adi Andhra, Adi Dravida and Adi Karnataka groups can choose to be reserved under Category A or Category B.But this matrix violates the 50 per cent cap on total reservation imposed by the Supreme Court and a disputed case is pending in the courts. Therefore, the government issued a notification to fill 56,432 posts under the existing 15% SC quota and clarified that the increased 17% quota will be implemented in recruitment only after the court’s decision. This triggered a strong reaction from stakeholders.