Breaching The Limit: A Critical Evaluation Of The Increase In Reservation Limit In Karnataka

Abstract

The Government of Karnataka had, in October 2022, promulgated an ordinance to increase the reservation limit of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to 17 percent and 7 percent respectively. The ordinance was promulgated in furtherance of the recommendations made by the Justice HN Nagamohandas Commission which is also supported by the Justice Subhash Adi Committee report. Further, in December 2022, the Government of Karnataka had, seemingly as an act of appeasement and prior to the 2023 Assembly elections, tabled a Bill [The Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Bill, 2022] in the Legislative Assembly which reiterates the increase in reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the State just as the previously promulgated ordinance. The bill was eventually passed. The relevance of the ordinance and the bill is based on the observation that such an increase in reservation quota for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes would bring the overall reservation quota above 50 percent, which is against the desirable limit prescribed by the Supreme Court on reservation. This paper mainly aims to critically analyse the bill and the possible legal hurdles it might encounter. The paper shall, in the first part, deal with the history of reservation in India and the various constitutional provisions regarding the same. Secondly, the various landmark Supreme Court judgements on reservation, especially the decisions on the desirable limit of reservation, would be elucidated. The paper would also delve into the recommendations of the Commission and Committee that have been cited as the main reasons for the introduction of such an ordinance and thereafter the bill. This shall be followed by an analysis of whether this is an exceptional circumstance which demands the breach of the 50 percent rule. The paper shall, in conclusion, pose the various challenges that the Bill raises if the introduction of it is merely a political gimmick rather than a special circumstance requiring the breach of the desirable 50 percent reservation limit.