The State Cabinet on Wednesday decided to form its sub-committee on increasing the percentage of reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Addressing media persons after the Cabinet meeting, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J.C. Madhuswamy and Social Welfare Minister B. Sriramulu said there was pressure on the government to revise the quota for SCs and STs based on the population of the communities. Several seers too had demanded upward revision of the reservation.
Mr. Sriramulu said the Justice H.N. Nagamohan Das Commission had given a report to the government recommending several measures for increasing quota. There was a demand to increase quota from 15% to 17% to SCs and from 3% to 7% to STs in the State. The previous JD(S)-Congress government had constituted the commission and the ruling BJP received the report.
The Cabinet authorised Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to nominate members to the Cabinet sub-committee in a week.
The Cabinet approved ₹500 crore and ₹650 crore for Krishna Jala Bhagya Nigam Ltd. and Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd., respectively, and ₹250 crore each for Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd., and Visvesvaraya Jala Nigam Ltd. for the year 2020-21.
It was decided that disciplinary action would be initiated against officers of the Karnataka Public Service Commission without consulting them. At present, the government could not take action against KPSC officers without consulting them.
It also approved Karnataka Agriculture Services (Appointment) Rules, 2020, Mr. Madhuswamy said.
A sum of ₹28.5 crore was approved for the Belagavi City Corporation for development works and ₹13.85 crore for Hospet CMC for establishing an agricultural market.