Karnataka govt to set up commission to advise on internal quota for Scheduled Castes

BENGALURU: The Karnataka government, during a Cabinet meeting on Monday, decided to establish a one-man commission to advise on implementing internal reservation for scheduled castes. The commission, headed by a retired High Court judge, will review data before the cabinet takes its next decision.

The commission has also been instructed to submit a report within three months. The decision to set up the commission comes in the backdrop of Supreme Court ruling to grant internal reservation to Scheduled Castes.

Law Minister H K Patil clarified that a commission under the leadership of a retired High Court judge will be formed and the next decision will be taken after receiving the data.

Also, the commission has been instructed by the state government to submit a report within three months. Therefore, the further recruitment process has been suspended and from now on any recruitment notification will be taken based on the commission’s report, he informed.

However, the court has given the power to the states to decide which castes and tribes should be given internal reservations in government jobs.

Congress leader Priyank Kharge says that the reservation was part of the government’s manifesto and it was discussed in detail with the guidance of the commission.

“Internal reservation was a part of our manifesto and the previous government did not do the internal reservation based on any data. The Supreme Court order is very clear that internal reservation has to be done based on empirical data. We have set up a single-judge commission to figure out the way out of this maze of internal reservation and how we can get empirical data…” he said.

For three decades, the effort to provide justice to the untouchables through internal reservation in the Scheduled Castes persisted. The demand for internal reservations grew throughout SM Krishna’s time as CM. In light of this, the government considered a proposal to form an independent commission.

Later, the Congress-JDS alliance government headed by Dharam Singh formed a commission under the leadership of AG Sadashiva to conduct a study and make recommendations in 2005.

In 2012, the Sadashiva Commission had submitted a recommendation to the then Chief Minister DV Sadanand Gowda-led BJP government that the reservation of 15 per cent for the Scheduled Castes could be given to the left hand to 6 per cent to the right hand to 5.5 per cent to the untouchable sub-castes by 3 per cent and to the castes not belonging to these three groups by 1 per cent. (ANI)