Flawed: Supreme Court on Karnataka nixing 4% Muslim quota

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, April 13

The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the Karnataka Government’s decision to scrap the 4 per cent reservation for Muslims under the OBC category in government jobs and educational institutions and distribute it equally to Vokkaligas and Lingayats, saying prima facie it appeared to be based on “fallacious assumptions”.

“Prima facie, the impugned GO (government order) appears to suggest that the foundation of the decision-making process is highly shaky and flawed…. This government order is based on completely fallacious assumptions. This reservation has been given since 1994… they (Muslims) have been enjoying it for a very long time…. On the basis of the documents produced, Muslims are backward and then suddenly it’s changed,” a Bench led by Justice KM Joseph said.

On behalf of the Karnataka Government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Bench that “nothing irreversible will happen between today and Tuesday. I will not say beyond Tuesday but till Tuesday”.

The Bench, which also included Justice BV Nagarathna, asked the Karnataka Government and the counsel representing the Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities to respond to the petitions filed by Muslims and posted the matter for further hearing on April 18.After the Karnataka Government’s March 27 decision, which came weeks before the May 10 Assembly elections, Muslims will be eligible to vie for the 10 per cent reservation under the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) category while the 4 per cent quota enjoyed by them for three decades stands distributed equally between Veerashaiva-Lingayats and Vokkaligas – considered to be numerically dominant and politically influential communities in the state.

On behalf of the petitioner, senor advocates Kapil Sibal, Dushyant Dave and Gopal Sankarnarayanan submitted that no study had been conducted and there was no empirical data available with the state government to scrap the quota for Muslims in public employment and education. “The minority community needs court’s protection…. Reservation is not largesse, it’s a right,” Sibal submitted.

As the petitioners’ counsel demanded a stay on the operation of the state government’s decision, Mehta sought some time to respond to the petitions and assured the top court that no appointments and admissions would be made in the meantime on the basis of the impugned decision.

Mehta said according to the Justice Chinappa Reddy report, Muslims were only educationally backward. Dave contradicted him, saying the report clearly mentioned Muslims were socially and educationally backward.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing members of Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities, also opposed any interim order without allowing them to be heard. He said reservation couldn’t be based on religion.

During the hearing, Justice Nagarathna said the GO under challenge was based on an interim report and the Karnataka Government could have waited for the final report. “What was the great urgency?” she asked.

Pre-poll decision

• Karnataka Govt’s March 27 decision to scrap 4% quota for Muslims under OBC category comes ahead of May 10 Assembly polls
• Muslims have enjoyed this quota for 30 years
• Muslims will now be eligible to vie for 10% EWS quota