Raising quota: A cynical election ploy

Earlier this week, the state cabinet decided to increase the SC quota from 15% to 17% and that for ST from 3% to 7%

The Karnataka government’s decision to raise the reservation quota for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) seems to be prompted mainly by the desire to please these important sections of the population before the state Assembly elections.

Earlier this week, the state cabinet decided to increase the SC quota from 15 per cent to 17 per cent and that for ST from 3 per cent to 7 per cent. The decision was taken on the basis of the recommendations of a committee headed by Justice H N Nagamohan Das. The committee, set up in 2019, submitted its report in July 2020, and it is clear why the government waited for over two years to take a decision on it. Only decisions made at an electorally right time could have any use, and that is why Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai felt “blessed” that he could announce the decision now.

Politicians count their blessings in votes.

The increase will take the total reservations in Karnataka beyond the 50 per cent limit set by the Supreme Court. The court had set that limit in the 1992 Indra Sawhney judgement to ensure a balance between society’s need for both merit and social justice. It has stuck to that limit in subsequent rulings, including a 2021 judgement which struck down the Maharashtra government’s order granting reservation for the Maratha community that took the quota in that state above 50 per cent. The court has also noted that the ceiling had got constitutional sanction under the 81st Amendment in 2000. Karnataka Law Minister J C Madhuswamy has said that the government would seek protection for increased reservations under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. But it is doubtful whether inclusion of reservation laws in the Ninth Schedule would help, because the Supreme Court has also made it clear that such inclusion would not by itself put a law beyond judicial review.

There are at least 10 states, including Tamil Nadu, where reservations exceed 50 per cent or governments have announced their plans to exceed it. With the latest decision, reservations will go up to 56 per cent in Karnataka. There are other quota demands also in the state, with some communities seeking SC or ST status, others wanting Backward Class status, and yet others seeking higher quotas. The government has said that it would take appropriate decisions on them in due course. Governments do not bother about the rightness, desirability or wisdom of such decisions and whether they can be implemented at all, especially when elections are in sight. They only want to be seen as having taken the decision, and if the courts strike it down what could they do? That is cynical politics in play without reservation, and there is no court-imposed limit for that.