The Karnataka authorities`s choice to scrap a 4 in keeping with cent quota for Muslims in authorities jobs and education, and divvy it many of the dominant Hindu groups simply in advance of elections become criticised with the aid of using the Supreme Court on Thursday, which stated the pass seemed to be on a “tremendously shaky ground” and “flawed”.
Taking up a batch of petitions in opposition to the choice with the aid of using numerous Muslim businesses and individuals, the courtroom docket puzzled the purpose in the back of the step which become introduced on March 24, simply weeks earlier than the nation meeting elections on May 10.
The petitioners argued that the Karnataka authorities had violated the constitutional ideas of equality and secularism with the aid of using discriminating in opposition to Muslims, who represent approximately thirteen in keeping with cent of the nation’s population. They additionally claimed that the authorities had now no longer carried out any have a look at or amassed any empirical records to justify its choice.
The Karnataka authorities, led with the aid of using Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai of the BJP, defended its choice with the aid of using announcing that it become primarily based totally at the tips of a fee that had tested the socio-financial popularity of numerous groups withinside the nation.
The authorities additionally stated that it had taken under consideration the historic and cultural elements that made Vokkaligas and Lingayats, who collectively account for approximately forty in keeping with cent of the nation’s population, deserving of better reservations.
Vokkaligas and Lingayats are politically influential groups which have historically supported distinct events in Karnataka. The BJP, which got here to energy in 2019 after toppling a coalition authorities of the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular), has been looking to woo each groups in advance of the elections.
The courtroom docket, however, expressed doubts over the validity of the fee’s file and requested the authorities to supply extra proof to aid its choice. The courtroom docket additionally requested the authorities to provide an explanation for the way it had arrived on the 4 in keeping with cent determine for Muslims, which become delivered with the aid of using a preceding Congress authorities in 2013.
The courtroom docket additionally cited that the Karnataka authorities’s choice had handed the 50 in keeping with cent ceiling on reservations imposed with the aid of using the Supreme Court in a landmark judgment in 1992. The courtroom docket stated that any breach of this restriction could require exquisite occasions and splendid reasons.
The courtroom docket adjourned the listening to till April 18 and requested the Karnataka authorities and the representatives of Vokkaligas and Lingayats to document their responses to the petitions. The authorities agreed now no longer to make any appointments or admissions primarily based totally on its choice till then.