Karnataka urges Centre to review 50% quota ceiling, will pursue legal options

Parameshwara urged urged the Centre to initiate a comprehensive review of the 50 per cent reservation ceiling and to examine the state's request to include the enhanced reservation ceiling in the Constitution's Ninth Schedule. (File Photo/ X/Parameshwara)

Following the Karnataka High Court decision that struck down the enhancement of reservation for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara said Monday the government would pursue all legal options, including filing an appeal before the Supreme Court of India.

In a statement issued late Monday evening, Parameshwara called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Centre to initiate “a comprehensive review of the 50 per cent reservation ceiling, pursue appropriate constitutional and legislative measures, and examine Karnataka’s request for Ninth Schedule inclusion without further delay.”

“In October 2022, the then BJP government was fully aware that enhancing SC/ST reservation would increase the total reservation in Karnataka to 56 per cent, exceeding the prevailing 50 per cent ceiling. Its own leadership publicly acknowledged the need to seek protection under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. Yet, the legislation was enacted just months before the Assembly elections without that protection having been secured,” Parameshwara said.

The Centre’s response in Parliament on July 25, 2026, confirmed that Karnataka’s proposal for Ninth Schedule inclusion had been deferred because the matter was pending before the High Court.

“This makes the responsibility of the Union Government especially important today. It cannot merely cite judicial proceedings indefinitely while avoiding a substantive decision on the constitutional framework necessary to protect enhanced reservation,” the Karnataka deputy chief minister said.

Former CM Siddaramaiah, meanwhile, noted that the Justice Nagamohan Das Committee constituted by the Congress government provided the foundation for enhancing reservation. “The BJP-led Union Government subsequently deferred Karnataka’s request for Ninth Schedule inclusion, citing the pending litigation. It must now explain what constitutional solution it proposes,” he said in a post on X.

He demanded that the Centre review the 50 per cent reservation ceiling and facilitate a “constitutionally sustainable framework for population-informed reservation and reconsider Karnataka’s Ninth Schedule proposal.”

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The Karnataka High Court struck down the increased reservation for SCs from 15 per cent to 17 per cent and for STs from three per cent to seven per cent as unconstitutional. The revised reservation breached the 50 per cent reservation limit by taking the overall reservation in Karnataka for education and jobs to 56 per cent.