Karnataka High Court Strikes Down 2022 SC/ST Quota Increase Beyond 50 Percent

The Karnataka High Court has invalidated provisions of the State's 2022 legislation increasing Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe reservations in education and public employment.

Background and legal issue

The measure raised SC reservation from 15 to 17 per cent and ST reservation from 3 to 7 per cent, taking aggregate reservation to 56 per cent. The challenge questioned whether the increase could survive the constitutional ceiling governing affirmative-action quotas.

Court's reasoning and legal position

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice K S Hemalekha applied the fifty-per-cent principle in Indra Sawhney and related Supreme Court decisions. It concluded that a rise in population or a claim for proportional representation, without qualifying extraordinary circumstances, could not justify exceeding the ceiling.

Operative effect and next step

The ruling strikes down the challenged increase; the State's future response, including any appeal, must be assessed separately. The judgment addresses the validity of this legislation, not the broader legitimacy of constitutionally permitted reservations.