Supreme Court Adjourns Plea Against Karnataka Govt Scrapping 4% Muslim Quota, Interim Order For 'No Admissions, Appointments' Extended Till April 25

A bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna will now hear the matter on next Tuesday.

The undertaking given by the Karnataka government last week that no admissions or appointments would be made in pursuance of the GO, will continue till then.

"Nothing irreversible will happen," Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had assured the Court last week, when the matter was first heard. The Court had then recorded the submission of SG that "no appointment or admission is going to be made till 18.04.2023 on the basis of the impugned GO." 

Court had also asked the State to file its affidavit in the matter.

The GO is apparently based on an interim report of Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes. The Court stated that the State could have waited for the final report before revoking the reservations provided to Muslims in the State. Prima facie, the impugned GO appears to suggests that the foundation of the decision making process is "highly shaky and flawed", it had said.

"On the face, they (Muslims) have been enjoying this position for a very long time...On basis of documents produced, Muslims are backward and then suddenly it is changed," Justice Joseph had said.

Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Dushyant Dave appearing for the Muslim community argued that reservations cannot be for political reasons. Dave submitted on the basis of empirical data and material, it has been found that Muslims are a backward community in Karnataka and they were entitled to reservations.

The Karnataka Government had scrapped the 4% reservation and distributed the same equally among the Veerashaiva-Lingayats and Vokkaligas at 2% each.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for the Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities argued that the matter did not simply pertain to revocation of reservations but also the allocation of reservations to a different community. He submitted that the Lingayats and the Vokkaligas would be prejudiced if an interim stay on the GO is granted.