Karnataka govt contemplating ordinance on SC/ST quota

BENGALURU: The State Government is said to be contemplating issuing an ordinance on increasing the reservation for SC/STcommunities and sending a recommendation to the Union Government. Sources said the government is seeking legal opinion on issuing the ordinance and tabling the Bill in the winter session of the state legislature in December. A decision on issuing the ordinance will be taken at the state cabinet meeting on Thursday, sources said.

The government recently decided to accept the recommendations of the Justice Nagamohan Das  committee report on increasing the reservation for Scheduled Castes from15% to 17% and Scheduled Tribes from 3% to 7%. The decision to hike the reservation for SC/STs is historic and it was done to uphold social justice, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said addressing a group of SC/ST community leaders of the Karkala Assembly constituency.

The CM said the demand to increase the reservation has been pending for the last 50 years. Though several governments have come and gone, none of them were able to take the decision. But the incumbent government showed its commitment and took this bold decision with the cooperation of cabinet colleagues, BJP core committee and working committee. “I still want to do many things for these communities in the coming days. Honest efforts will be made to do justice for several communities including the backward classes,” he said.