BENGALURU: The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday clarified that it has not prevented the state government from making recruitments to vacant posts as per the reservation limit that existed before the enhancement of quota for the SCs and STs.
A division bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice CM Poonacha clarified this orally while hearing public interest litigations filed by Mahendra Kumar Mitra and another individual.
Challenging the provisions 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, 2022, the petitioners contended that as per Section 4 of the Act, reservation for the SCs has been increased from 15% to 17% and for the STs from 3% to 7%.
Reservation for the Backward Classes (BCs) continues to remain at 32%. With the implementation of the Act, reservation for reserved categories exceeds 50%. This is contrary to the law laid down by the Supreme Court, they alleged.
When the matter was taken up for hearing, Advocate General K Shashi Kiran submitted that 54,000 posts are vacant in the state and sought permission to fill them as per the enhanced reservation percentage for the SCs and STs, subject to the final outcome of the petitions.
Countering it, the counsel for the petitioners said there is no prohibition on the government to make recruitments to the vacant posts as per the earlier reservation limit.
The court adjourned the hearing to February 12. On November 19, the court restrained the state government from implementing the enhanced reservation under 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, 2022.
On November 27, it directed that no further notifications for recruitment on the basis of enhanced reservation should be issued till the disposal of the petitions.