Express News Service
NEWDELHI : The Karnataka government on Tuesday assured the Supreme Court that till April 25, it will not make any appointments or admissions on the basis of its March 27 order that scrapped the 4% reservation for Muslims under the OBC quota and distributed it among the dominant Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities.
Muslims, who were in category 2B, were moved to the 10% Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota pool, freeing up the 4% quota that was distributed at 2% each to Vokkaligas and Lingayats.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna that the state government’s response to the pleas filed by the Muslim organisation, Anjuman E Islam, and Ghulam Rasool, challenging the government order, has not been finalised yet. “We could not finalise the reply as we are before the Constitution bench. Please consider having it next Tuesday. My statement will continue. Since the constitution bench is starting (on pleas seeking legal recognition of same sex marriage), it wold be difficult to prepare the reply.”
Noting his submission, the bench in its order said, “On the request made, the case will stand over to next Tuesday. The statement given on previous hearing to continue till next date.”
Amid indications that the Supreme Court could stay the order, the state government had bought time on April 13, assuring the court that it would not make any appointments or admissions as per the GO till April 18, 2023. The state government had also faced the court’s wrath for scrapping the reservation.
The bench said it was “prima facie” of the opinion that the state government’s decision of scrapping 4 per cent reservation for Muslims under the OBC quota was “based on completely fallacious assumption”. Justice Joseph said the order appeared to suggest that the foundation of decision-making was “highly shaky” and “flawed”. He also said the GO was in the teeth of the Justice Chinnappa Reddy commission’s report.
Questioning the state’s urgency in scrapping the reservation ahead of the Assembly elections, Justice Nagarathna said, “Where there was reservation for a particular group of backward classes it is totally knocked out and it becomes 0. And the percentage of reservation for those who already had the reservation has already gone up. Can there be a class of person who by way of an interim order at a stroke be denied? Because it was on an interim report, the government could have waited for a final report. What is the urgency?”
The pleas had sought for quashing the GO and reclassifying of the reservation categories and inclusion of Muslims under EWS reservation.
NEWDELHI : The Karnataka government on Tuesday assured the Supreme Court that till April 25, it will not make any appointments or admissions on the basis of its March 27 order that scrapped the 4% reservation for Muslims under the OBC quota and distributed it among the dominant Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities.
Muslims, who were in category 2B, were moved to the 10% Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota pool, freeing up the 4% quota that was distributed at 2% each to Vokkaligas and Lingayats.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna that the state government’s response to the pleas filed by the Muslim organisation, Anjuman E Islam, and Ghulam Rasool, challenging the government order, has not been finalised yet. “We could not finalise the reply as we are before the Constitution bench. Please consider having it next Tuesday. My statement will continue. Since the constitution bench is starting (on pleas seeking legal recognition of same sex marriage), it wold be difficult to prepare the reply.”
Noting his submission, the bench in its order said, “On the request made, the case will stand over to next Tuesday. The statement given on previous hearing to continue till next date.”googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
Amid indications that the Supreme Court could stay the order, the state government had bought time on April 13, assuring the court that it would not make any appointments or admissions as per the GO till April 18, 2023. The state government had also faced the court’s wrath for scrapping the reservation.
The bench said it was “prima facie” of the opinion that the state government’s decision of scrapping 4 per cent reservation for Muslims under the OBC quota was “based on completely fallacious assumption”. Justice Joseph said the order appeared to suggest that the foundation of decision-making was “highly shaky” and “flawed”. He also said the GO was in the teeth of the Justice Chinnappa Reddy commission’s report.
Questioning the state’s urgency in scrapping the reservation ahead of the Assembly elections, Justice Nagarathna said, “Where there was reservation for a particular group of backward classes it is totally knocked out and it becomes 0. And the percentage of reservation for those who already had the reservation has already gone up. Can there be a class of person who by way of an interim order at a stroke be denied? Because it was on an interim report, the government could have waited for a final report. What is the urgency?”
The pleas had sought for quashing the GO and reclassifying of the reservation categories and inclusion of Muslims under EWS reservation.
