Internal quota gets guv nod, govt to fill 56K vacancies

Bengaluru: In a bittersweet moment for the Siddaramaiah government, the controversial internal reservation bill has received the assent of governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot and the govt Thursday decided to fill more than 56,000 of 2.8 lakh vacancies in the state government in the next 30 days.This comes with a caveat: The govt's decision will be subject to the final verdict of the Karnataka high court in the two cases challenging Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Act, 2022, and The Karnataka Scheduled Castes (sub-categorisation in reservation) act 2025.
The HC has provided "conditional approval" in the case of reservation of seats and appointments to posts. Appointments or promotions by the state government under the new matrix should expressly state they are subject to the outcome of the cases pending against the increased reservation quota. Another HC bench has stayed the hiked quota for SCs and STs."As a result of this, the govt will call for filling 56,432 posts under the old quota of 50%, including 15% for SCs and 3% for STs, with enhanced quota of 2% for SCs and 4% to STs kept in the reserve subject to the HC final verdict," said law minister HK Patil.On Thursday evening, a ministerial delegation of SC ministers, along with HK Patil, met the governor to thank him for giving the SC internal quota.Soon after the meeting, it was confirmed by Lok Bhavan sources and the government that the Karnataka Scheduled Castes (sub-categorisation in reservation) act 2025 was cleared by the governor. This means the state govt could look at increasing the quota from 50% to 56%.However, the HC decision has left the government with limited powers to implement the act until the increased reservation quota is cleared. As per the new Act, the internal reservation will be under the 6:6:5 ratio with an enhanced 17% quota for the SCs.While 6% will be allocated for the Left sect of the SCs, another 6% will be available for the right sects among the communities. The remaining 5% will see the most backward sub-castes of the SCs getting primacy of 1% and the other 4% for the four communities of Bhovis, Lambanis, Korcha and Kormas.