Increasing Reservation Is Constitutionally Valid? Petition Filed In Karnataka HC, Notice To State Govt

The Karnataka High Court issued notice to the State government on Thursday in a petition challenging the constitutional validity of 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, 2023.

A Bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B. Varale and Justice Ashok S. Kinagi issued notice in response to a petition filed by Mahesh, a 24-year-old law student of KLE Law College in Bengaluru.

The petitioner contended that the 2023 Act increased the limit of reservation from 50% to 56%, which is permissible under the Constitution and the law declared by the Supreme Court, which states that reservation under Article 16 cannot exceed 50%.

The State’s decision to increase reservation to 17% from 15% for SCs and 7% from 3% for STs does not meet the test of extraordinary circumstance to increase reservation, according to the petitioner, because the increase was made contrary to the exception carved out by the apex court.

According to the petitioner, there is no rational justification for increasing SC and ST reservation when lakhs of jobs reserved for SC, ST, and Other Backward Classes in the Union and State governments, as well as public sector undertaking are lying vacant for years.

The petitioner has noted that a similar law passed by the State of Chhattisgarh, increasing the limit of the reservation to 58%, has been declared unconstitutional and in violation of the law established by the supreme court on the limit of reservation, and has been overturned by the Chhattisgarh High Court.