Bengaluru: The Karnataka cabinet Friday approved internal reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs) within 15% quota, clearing the ground for resuming the recruitment process for 56,000 govt posts.After a special cabinet meeting, CM Siddaramaiah announced the new formula of 5.25% each for Left and Right groups (Category A and Category B) and 4.5% for touchable communities and others (Category C). “With this, the recruitment process (on hold since Feb) will restart immediately,” he added.The CM said the party has ticked another box, as internal reservation was part of Congress manifesto for the 2023 assembly elections.In Feb, governor Thaawarchand Gehlot approved 17% SC quota, but the govt chose to downscale it to 15% after some groups approached court. Earlier, the govt had finalised 6% each for Category A and Category B, and 5% for Category C.A dispute arose after some members belonging to nomadic groups moved court, which directed the govt not to breach the 50% ceiling on total reservation.“We recently constituted a technical committee headed by chief secretary Shalini Rajneesh to examine legal validity, implementation feasibility, and administrative guidelines for recruitment. The committee submitted its report Friday. Based on it, we’ve finalised internal reservation,” the CM said.The cabinet decision was unanimous, with ministers KH Muniyappa, RB Timmapur, Shivaraj Tangadagi, G Parameshwara, Priyank Kharge, and HC Mahadevappa — all from the SC community — agreeing to the formula.“We’ve provided 20% reservation from within the 5% allocated to Category C for the 63 nomadic and seminomadic sub-castes,” said Siddaramaiah, explaining one in every five posts goes to this category.The CM said the govt would look at providing a 17% quota for SCs and 7% for STs soon after the case pending in the high court is resolved.
