Why Karnataka govt wants Article 341 amended for internal reservation

The Karnataka government has decided to recommend that the Union government amend Article 341(3) of the Constitution to provide internal reservation under social justice for the 101 communities in the Scheduled Caste (SC) list.

This decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday to woo the Left-hand Dalits who are more inclined towards the BJP. The ball is now in the court of the Union government.

Earlier, the BJP government had issued a classification order and sent it to the Centre to implement the same. However, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court questioning the move and the matter is sub judice. Now, the Siddaramaiah government plans to put pressure on the Centre by recommending an amendment to the law.

Karnataka Law Minister HK Patil said it has been decided to recommend to the Centre to constitutionally authorise the states to revise the reservation according to the new census and to amend Article 341 of the Constitution for internal reservation.

Vying for Dalit support

The BJP has been getting the support of the Left-hand Dalits for almost a decade, while the Right-hand Dalits have been backing the Congress. The BJP planned to strengthen its base by extending internal reservations after an increase in the quota for SCs and STs. Following the recommendations of the Justice HN Nagamohan Das Commission, the reservation for SCs was increased from 15 to 17 per cent, and that for STs from 3 to 7 per cent.

The then BJP government under Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai sent the recommendations of a cabinet sub-committee to implement internal reservation of Scheduled Castes. It reportedly ignored the Justice Sadashiva Commission report for the internal reservation of SCs and sent the fresh report prepared by the sub-committee. However, the Union government rejected it, citing the case in the apex court.

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said the government has decided to take a final decision regarding the reservation of Scheduled Castes. “In our previous government, we had decided on the Sadashiva Commission. Later, when Bommai was the CM, he rejected the panel’s report,” he said.

Social Welfare Minister Dr HC Mahadevappa said: “For the last two decades, the subsections of the Dalit community have been demanding internal reservation. We promised to present the report of the Sadashiva Commission in the state assembly. However, the BJP government hastily formed a cabinet sub-committee and recommended that the report of the Sadashiva Commission was irrelevant. There is no question of leaving anyone out. But it is not possible to grant internal reservation without amending Article 341(3) of the Constitution. Therefore, the cabinet meeting has decided to recommend to the Central government to make the amendment.”

Eye on LS polls: BJP

Bommai says the Congress now talks about the Sadashiva Commission recommendations as the parliamentary polls are fast approaching and naturally the people would question them. “What they have been talking about was the bogus internal reservation as the matter was before the Supreme Court,” he said.

Ambanna Arolikar, who has been leading the protests for the implementation of internal reservation in the state for many years, said that the responsibility of putting pressure on the Central government and implementing internal reservation is on both the ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP.

“The BJP government lied that they had recommended the Central government to implement internal reservation in March 2023. A cabinet sub-committee had set aside the Sadashiva Commission report. Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, which have taken a lead in the implementation of internal reservation, have considered the report given by their respective commissions,” he added.

The backdrop

In September 2005, the Dharam Singh-led Congress-JDS coalition government set up a commission headed by Justice AJ Sadashiva in the wake of widespread complaints that “touchable” castes within the SC were “consuming” the quotas. Although the Sadashiva Commission had a survey limit of only two years, it submitted its report in June 2012 when BJP’s Sadananda Gowda was the chief minister.

The Sadashiva Commission classified 101 subcastes of the SCs into four groups and allocated 15 per cent reservation based on their population. Within the 15 per cent population of Dalits in Karnataka, 33.4 percent are Left (Madigas), 32 per cent are Right (Holeyas), while the remaining 23.64 per cent are “untouchable.” The Commission provided 5 per cent internal reservation for the Right tribe, 6 percent for the Left tribe, 1 per cent each for the Bovi, Lambani, and Koram-Korcha (touchable tribes), and 1 per cent for the nomadic “untouchable” castes.

The Commission also found out that there were 20.54 lakh Dalit families in the state and the community’s population is more than 96 lakh according to the 2011 census. Other sources said that 1,38,000 people serve in the Central and state governments under the SC reservation. If 6 per cent internal reservation for Madigas (Left) is applied, only 55,200 of them can gain government jobs. Currently, they occupy only 23,000 posts. So, they are deprived of 32,000 posts. Now based on these recommendations, the state government has decided to send the proposal to amend the Constitution.