The State government’s decision to take the Ordinance route to enhance reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, while being welcomed, is also being viewed with caution as it is likely to be challenged in the courts, and could end up being a time-consuming process.
The State government intends to hike the reservation for SCs from 15% to 17% and reservation for STs from 3% to 7%.
While Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had announced that the government was keen to have it inserted in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J.C. Madhuswamy did not specifically mention this in his post-Cabinet briefing on Thursday. Multiple calls to elicit clarification on the issue from Social Welfare Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary went unanswered.
Senior government officials belonging to SC/ST communities believe that the law, unless it is in 9th Schedule, would face legal challenges as the 1992 Supreme Court judgment in the Indra Sawhney case has capped reservation to 50%. “Anything less than it being in 9th schedule on the lines of reservation in Tamil Nadu is fraught with danger and this decision could end up being just an eye wash,” a senior official told The Hindu. “This process is going to be time-consuming and could take months.”
In fact, the government changed its earlier decision on issuing a notification and instead took the Ordinance route after it was felt that an executive decision – as initially thought – was not enough and could end up in trouble if questioned in court.
Multiple stages
The process of inclusion in the 9th Schedule, multiple government sources agreed, is quite time consuming as once the State government’s proposal is made, the Union government seeks opinion from Law Ministry, Department of Personnel and Training, SC and ST Commissions before it is vetted by the Ministry of Home Affairs. After the process is completed, the matter comes up before the Union Cabinet and then piloted in Parliament.
Admitting that the process is time consuming, sources in the Chief Minister’s Office said that the State government is keen on sending the proposal to the Centre irrespective of the legal hurdles that it may face. CMO sources also cautioned that Karnataka’s proposal could also result in other States also sending similar proposals.
