The Supreme Court on Thursday recorded an undertaking from the Karnataka administration that no job appointments or educational admissions would be made till April 18 on the basis of a recent government order scrapping the four per cent OBC reservation for Muslims.
“We feel prima facie the impugned government order appears to suggest that the foundation of the decision-making process is highly shaky and flawed,” Justice K.M. Joseph, who headed a bench that included Justice B.V. Nagarathna, observed.
Karnataka had on March 30 scrapped the three-and-a-half-decade-old quota and redistributed it among the Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities, raising their quotas by two percentage points each. Muslims are now left only with eligibility for the 10 per cent EWS quota.
The bench refrained from staying the government order after repeated pleas from solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the state, and senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who represented some members of the Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities.
“The benefit is being enjoyed by the (Muslim) community for several decades. What was the great urgency to come out with the decision?” Justice Nagarathna asked.
Karnataka has to file its reply by April 17.
The government order, which came weeks ahead of the May 10 Assembly elections, was issued apparently on the basis of an interim report from the state’s backward classes commission.