Karnataka moves Supreme Court against High Court order striking down SC/ST quota hike

The Karnataka government has gone to the Supreme Court against the High Court verdict that struck down its decision to raise reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, a release from the Chief Minister’s Office said on Wednesday. The state has filed a special leave petition against the October 12 verdict, which took SC reservation back from 17% to 15% and ST reservation from 7% to 3%.

The Cabinet decided on October 15 to challenge the order. A Government Order followed on October 27, and approval to file the appeal came on October 28. The release says the petition was filed “within 16 days of the judgment”. It has not said when the Supreme Court will take it up.

What the High Court held

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice K S Hema Lekha struck down Sections 3 and 4 of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Act, 2022. The 2022 law had lifted SC reservation from 15% to 17% and ST reservation from 3% to 7%. With the OBC quota unchanged at 32%, total reservation had gone from 50% to 56%.

The court held that the relevant part of Section 3 violated Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution, and that Section 4 violated Articles 14 and 16. Crossing the 50% ceiling set in the Indra Sawhney case needs a compelling justification based on exceptional circumstances, the Bench said, and it did not find one. The state had argued that the ceiling no longer applied and that SC, ST and OBC communities together make up over 90% of the population. The court rejected the second argument as one that undermines equality.

The Bench accepted that the state has the legislative competence to make such a law, but said this does not free it from other limits in the Constitution. The findings of the Justice H N Nagamohan Das Commission could support internal reservation, it said, but not going past 50%. Lower representation of some groups in state services does not automatically amount to an exceptional circumstance. “This does not establish the necessity of exceeding the 50% ceiling,” the court said.

The consultation gap

The second strand of the ruling was procedural. Articles 338(9) and 338A(9) require the state to consult the National Commissions for SCs and STs on major policy decisions affecting those communities. Karnataka wrote to the commissions on December 10, 2025, and January 20, 2026, nearly three years after the Act took effect on January 12, 2023, and after it had been challenged in court. In the court’s words, “simply writing to the commissions after the law had already been enacted could not be considered meaningful consultation.”

How we got here

The 2022 law followed the Nagamohan Das Commission, which recommended the increase in July 2020. According to the state’s release, then Law Minister J C Madhuswamy said on October 7, 2022, that the enhanced quota would be placed in the Ninth Schedule, which shields laws from most judicial review. The BJP government of the time instead issued an ordinance and then passed the legislation before the 2023 Assembly elections.

The quota law and the challenge

1. July 2020Nagamohan Das Commission recommends the increase
2. January 12, 2023The 2022 law takes effect
3. November 27, 2025Interim order bars fresh recruitment under the law, except processes notified before November 19
4. December 18, 2025Assembly asks for Ninth Schedule inclusion
5. October 12, 2026High Court strikes down Sections 3 and 4
6. October 15, 2026Cabinet decides to appeal
7. November 11, 2026State says appeal has been filed

The law was challenged in public interest petitions, including one by Raichur social worker Mahendra Kumar Mitra. On November 27, 2025, a Bench led by Chief Justice Bakhru kept the state’s bar on fresh recruitment under the Act in force, allowed processes notified before November 19 to continue, and ordered that appointment and promotion letters must say they are subject to the final decision. On December 18, 2025, the Assembly passed a resolution asking the Centre to place the 56% quota in the Ninth Schedule.

The politics

The state is putting the blame on the previous government and the Centre. Its release says the Centre has not acted on the Ninth Schedule request. On March 21, 2023, then Union Minister of State A Narayanaswamy told Parliament that no proposal from Karnataka had reached the Centre, and the state wrote two days later. On July 25, 2026, the Centre told Parliament that the request would be deferred because the matter was before the High Court.

The release points out that Karnataka has five Union ministers and 19 Lok Sabha MPs from the BJP and the JD(S), yet no constitutional amendment has been introduced. It calls the Ninth Schedule “the only permanent safeguard against future legal challenges”. The state said it would pursue the legal fight in the Supreme Court while pressing the Centre on the amendment.

After the verdict, former chief minister and BJP MP Basavaraj Bommai urged the government to appeal to the Supreme Court and said he would approach it himself if the government did not. No response from the Centre to the state’s statement was available on Wednesday night.

What it means for jobs

The release says that in February 2026 the state approved filling 56,432 vacancies, and kept an additional 6% of SC and ST posts in a backlog category until the verdict. Internal reservation among Scheduled Castes has also been implemented. Higher quotas for SCs and STs leave fewer posts open to general-category candidates.

The state has not said what will happen to appointments made under the enhanced quota while the Supreme Court considers the petition. The High Court’s interim arrangement required such orders to be marked temporary, so candidates have no claim to protection if the increase is finally set aside.

What happens next

The Supreme Court has to admit the petition and decide whether to stay the High Court’s order. No hearing date has been reported. A Supreme Court ruling that upholds the High Court would leave the state with the Ninth Schedule route, which needs a constitutional amendment passed by Parliament, and that is the demand Karnataka says it will keep pressing on the Centre.

Other states face the same 50% question. The Madhya Pradesh High Court struck down that state’s 27% OBC quota on the same ground in October.