Karnataka: Justice Nagamohan Das seeks govt to clarify on internal quota in recruitment

Amid the uncertainty over internal reservation following the Cabinet’s decision to carry out recruitment to fill 56,432 vacancies based on “old” reservation matrix (15%), Justice H N Nagamohan Das, while welcoming the decision, has advised the state government to “pursue” the pending cases in the High Court related to the enhanced SC quota (from 15% to 17%) on priority, stating delays could have “serious repercussions.”

Justice Das, who led the one-man commission on internal reservation for Scheduled Castes, also sought the state government to clarify as to how the internal reservation would be accommodated within the 15% quota.

Speaking to DH, Justice Das said, “I welcome the Cabinet decision to carry out recruitment to fill up 56,432 vacancies as there has been no recruitment for a long time. Almost 2.84 lakh sanctioned posts are vacant. The youth are frustrated. So, the decision to go ahead with old reservation matrix of 15% in lieu of the High Court stay on enhanced quota, is welcome. However, the government should clarify on how the internal quota will be accommodated within the 15% quota.”

He was pointing to a serious concern as there was no internal reservation formula in place before the quota was enhanced by the previous Bommai-led BJP government.

After the Supreme Court (in August 2024) ruled that States could create sub-classification within SCs (in State of Punjab vs Davindar Singh), the Siddaramaiah government appointed the Justice Nagamohan Das Commission to conduct fresh empirical study. The Commission classified SCs into four subgroups – SC (Left) – 6.5%, SC (Right) 5.5%, SC (Touchables) 4% and SC (Nomadic communities and others 1%. The state Cabinet combined groups C and D and adopted the 6-6-5 formula.

Subsequently, the ‘Karnataka Scheduled Castes (Sub-Classification) Bill, 2025’ passed in on December 19, 2025, was given approval by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on February 26, 2026, after a delegation of SC and ST ministers urged him to clear the bill citing delay in recruitments and the massive protest by job aspirants at Dharwad demanding filling up of 2.84 lakh backlog posts.

The state cabinet announced it would fill up 56,432 vacancies shortly but without elaborating whether recruitments would be carried out with or without the internal quota.

Legal hurdles

The High Court is currently examining the legality of enhancing the SC quota from 15% to 17% (as it breaches the 50% cap on total reservation), along with internal sub-classification, following petitions challenging the ‘6-6-5’ formula by the most-backward and under-represented Alemari community.

The uncertainty over the enhanced quota has now placed three phases of recruitment in a grey zone: those carried out between 2022 and 2025 under enhanced quota, recruitments undertaken after 2025 (as per 6-6-5 formula) and the proposed recruitment of around 56,432 posts now being processed under the old matrix.

Options before govt

An administrative option is to scale down the 6-6-5 quotas proportionately within the 15% cap. The government could also bring in a fresh ordinance on the revised formula to be placed for approval in the upcoming Budget session of the Assembly. Legal experts, however, point out that the pending cases on enhanced quota have placed the past, present, and proposed recruitments in limbo and an early resolution of the litigation is the only option to avoid administrative complications and ensure clarity for lakhs of job aspirants.