HC halts fresh recruitment under Karnataka's enhanced SC/ST quota law
Bengaluru (PTI): In a setback to the state government, the Karnataka High Court has barred it from issuing any fresh recruitment notifications in an Act which had raised quotas for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The restriction on recruitment under the Karnataka Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) (Reservation of Seats in Education Institutions and Appointments of Posts and Services under the State) Act, 2022, will remain until further orders.
However, the HC bench allowed the government to continue recruitment processes already notified before November 19, 2025, even if they follow the increased reservation percentages.
The court also clarified that all appointments made through these ongoing recruitments will be subject to the final outcome of the petitions challenging the law.
The division bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C M Poonacha issued the interim order on November 27 while hearing two PILs filed by Mahendra Kumar Mitra of Raichur and Mahesh of Bengaluru.
The petitions question the constitutional validity of the 2022 Act, particularly the hike in SC/ST reservation, from 15 per cent to 17 per cent for SCs and from 3 per cent to 7 per cent for STs.
Other Backward Classes (OBCs) reservation continues to remain at 32 per cent, which takes over all reservations in the state to 56 per cent.
The Bench directed that all appointment or promotion orders issued under the Act must explicitly state that they are provisional and contingent on the court's final judgment, preventing candidates from claiming equity if the enhanced quotas are struck down.
The court further stated that this interim permission to continue ongoing recruitments will not override any specific interim or final orders already passed by courts or tribunals in related matters.
The government had earlier argued that halting ongoing recruitments would disrupt administrative functioning due to manpower shortages.
The petitions also contend that the increased reservation breaches the 50 per cent ceiling set by the Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney judgment and that the State failed to consult the National Commissions for SCs and STs as mandated under Articles 338(9) and 338A(9) of the Constitution.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
