Amid confusion over internal reservation, Karnataka SC/ST commission holds deliberations

Amid confusion over the internal reservation among Scheduled Castes, and reduction of overall reservation to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from 56% to 50% for recruitment to 56,432 posts, the Karnataka State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes held deliberations with senior officials, former KPSC functionaries, and community representatives on Tuesday.

Besides discussion on internal reservation, commission chairman L. Murthy elicited responses from the community representatives on varied issues.

A note said that the meeting had been convened to deliberate on internal reservations for Scheduled Castes in the light of the Supreme Court’s directives regarding reservation policy.

Bogus certificates

“We highlighted the need to remove confusion that is leading to bogus caste certificates pertaining to Bhovi and Maleyaru. With the SC reservation basket being crowded already, the commission was also urged not to consider/recommend the addition of four more castes, including Kembattis and Mansas, as recommended by the H.N. Nagamohan Das Commission,” a source, who attended the meeting, told The Hindu.

The demand to delete Adi Karnatakas, Adi Dravidas, and Adi Andhras, which are groups of castes, was made, and the commission was urged to write to the Centre recommending their deletion since they have now been allowed to opt between Category A (Madigas) or Category B (Holeyas), sources said.

50% cap

Further, sources said that it conveyed to the commission that breaching the 50% cap on reservation in Karnataka’s case was valid since the population of SC/ST in Karnataka is about 25%, and that the cap, as per the Supreme Court, was not a watertight one.

Among those present were Social Welfare Secretary D. Randeep, DPAR Secretary K. Jagadish, Law Secretary K.L. Ashok, Higher Education Secretary Khushboo Goel Chowdhary, former KPSC Chairman Gonal Bheemappa and a host of former KPSC members.