Karnataka govt rolls out new quota roster, general category share down to 44%

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government issued an order Wednesday prescribing a new reservation roster according to which people falling under the general merit category will have a 44% share in jobs and education, down from the earlier 50%.

Reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC) is 17%, Scheduled Tribes (ST) 7% and Other Backward Classes (OBC) 32%, taking the total quota quantum to 56%. This breaches the 50% cap on reservation the Supreme Court had fixed in the 1992 Indira Sawhney case.

In its order Wednesday, the government said all recruitment must happen under a new roster that takes into account internal reservation among SCs.

The 17% reservation for SCs is divided into three: Group A (SC Left / Madigas) with 6%, Group B (SC Right / Holeya) also 6% and Group C (Banjara, Bhovi, Korma, Korcha and ‘most backward’ communities) at 5%.

Earlier, Karnataka had 50% reservation - 15% for SCs, 3% STs and 32% OBCs - while the remaining 50% went to the general category.

In 2022-23, the previous BJP government hiked SC/ST quota, breaching the 50% limit. However, the issue of internal reservation was not settled then.

Now, with the Congress government approving internal reservation among SCs, all direct recruitments must adhere to the new quota roster, the order issued by the department of personnel & administrative reforms (DPAR) said.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s plan is to increase the state’s total reservation to 75%, a key promise he had made before coming to power.

The junked 2015 Social & Educational Survey report recommended hiking OBC reservation to 51%. That, along with 17% for SCs and 7% for STs, would make it 75% reservation.

In April this year, Siddaramaiah argued that the 50% reservation cap laid down by the Supreme Court was no longer intact after the introduction of the 10% quota for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS). “Tamil Nadu has 69% reservation. It is 77% in Jharkhand," he had said.