Special cabinet to discuss internal quota on March 27

The State government, which is under pressure from the Dalit left groups over implementing internal reservation in the 15% quota for Scheduled Castes, has convened a special cabinet on March 27 to discuss the issue.

The discussion on the subject was inconclusive during the last Cabinet as Dalit Ministers in the Cabinet could not arrive at a consensus following which Chief Minister Siddaramaiah deferred the discussion to a special cabinet.

While the Dalit right (Holeyas) are believed to be opposed to the internal reservation within 15% quota, the Dalit left (Madigas) are insisting that the recruitment to 56,432 posts should be held with internal reservation. Backchannel talks are learnt to be under way to arrive at a consensus before the Cabinet takes up the matter for discussion.

MP’s letter

Meanwhile, as Karnataka government grapples with the 56% reservation issue as it exceeds the Supreme Court mandated cap of 50%, G. Kumar Naik, Raichur MP, has written to Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Virendra Kumar to initiate action to include the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or posts in the Services under the State) Act, 2022, that provides reservation for SCs and STs at 17% and 7%, respectively, under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. He has urged the Minister to take up the discussion during the ongoing Parliament session.

With the government deciding to revert to 50% reservation cap due to ongoing court cases against 56% reservation, the nayakas/Valmikis are upset as their quota of reservation would come down from 7% to 3% while quota for SCs will come down from 17% to 15%.