The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed that the four per cent reservation to Muslims in Karnataka will continue to hold the field till May 9. The apex court will hear the batch of petitions just on the eve of the polling on May 10. The poll results will be declared on May 13.
A bench of justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna also said the decision of scrapping of the four per cent quota for Muslims in 2B category of the “Other Backward Castes” and granting benefits of increased quota to Vokkaligas and Lingayats in admissions and appointments to government jobs will not be implemented till May 9 after the state government sought time to file its reply.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Karnataka Government, said he will file the reply, which is prepared and is a bulky document on a batch of the pleas during the day. Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the petitioners, opposed the request for adjournment by Mehta and said the hearing has been deferred four times.
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On April 18, the top court had deferred till April 25 hearing on a batch of pleas challenging scrapping of the four per cent Muslim quota in Karnataka after the State Government sought time to file its reply. Court had recorded the assurance given by the State Government on April 13 that no quota benefits in admission to educational institutions and appointment in government jobs will be given to Vokkaligas and Lingayats will hold the field till the next date of hearing.
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On April 13, the Karnataka Government’s decision to scrap four per cent Muslim quota ahead of the assembly polls came under the scanner of the Supreme Court, which questioned the government order and said prima facie it appeared to be on a “highly shaky ground” and “flawed”. The four per cent reservation for Muslims was to be equally split between the two communities. The top court said from the records tabled before it appears that the Karnataka government’s decision is based on “absolutely fallacious assumption”.
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At the fag end of its term, the BJP Government on March 24 decided to abolish the four per cent reservation for Muslims under 2-B category. The four per cent was later split into two and distributed among Vokkaligas in 2-C category and Lingayats in 2-D category. Muslims eligible for quotas were categorised under the economically weaker sections. The State Government’s decision has pushed the reservation limit to around 57 per cent now.
Source: Daily Pioneer
