Former MP terms HC verdict on enhanced quota for SCs, STs ‘setback to social justice’

Former MP and Congress leader V.S. Ugrappa (fourth from the left) addressing a press conference in Mysuru on Wednesday.

Terming the Karnataka High Court’s judgment against increasing reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs and STs) beyond the 50% ceiling a “setback to social justice”, former MP and Congress leader V.S. Ugrappa emphasised the need for 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, to be included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to provide it with protection from legal challenges.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Mr. Ugrappa said that the D.K. Shivakumar-led government had filed a Special Leave Petition against the High Court judgment on the SC and ST quota before the Supreme Court. He added that the appeal would provide only temporary relief.

The High Court had struck down the enhanced quotas of 17% and 7% for SCs and STs, respectively, following a public interest litigation recently.

Pointing out that the law to increase the reservation quota for Scheduled Castes from 15% to 17% and Scheduled Tribes from 3% to 7%, while retaining the 32% quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), had been enacted during the tenure of the BJP government led by Basavaraj Bommai, the former MP urged BJP leaders to press the Union government to include the law in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.

Correspondence by the Basavaraj Bommai-led government in March 2023 and the subsequent government with the Union government failed to yield the desired result. Therefore, an all-party delegation should meet the Prime Minister and urge him to include the law in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, he said.

Mr. Ugrappa said that reservation was the right of every individual. The SC, ST and OBC communities constitute a significant section of the population and deserve their due share of reservation, he said.