Ending weeks of uncertainty over a key social justice reform, Governor Thawarchand Gehlot has given his assent to Karnataka’s internal quota bill for Scheduled Castes, a legislation that the government had pushed through the Assembly in December 2025.
The state had been apprehensive as the Governor had initially returned the Bill seeking clarifications. Law Minister HK Patil confirmed on Thursday, February 26, following a state cabinet meeting that the bill has now received the Governor’s nod.
The bill restructures the proposed 17% reservation for Scheduled Castes into an internal quota system covering 101 communities. Under the new framework, 6% each will be allocated to the SC Left and SC Right groups (administrative groupings used by the state to classify different SC communities based on historical social hierarchies and traditional practices within the caste system), comprising 16 and 19 communities respectively, while 5% will be set aside for 63 other SC communities. Members of the Adi Andhra, Adi Dravida and Adi Karnataka groups will have the option of choosing between the first two categories.
The assent comes amid unrest across the state, with youths protesting nearly 2.5 lakh unfilled government job vacancies. Recruitment has remained frozen since October 2024, partly due to the government’s attempt to introduce the internal reservation structure without disrupting ongoing processes.
Despite the approval, the state government said that it will not implement the enhanced 17% quota in immediate recruitments. It will wait for judicial clarity on whether exceeding the 50% reservation ceiling set by the Supreme Court of India is legally permissible. Until then, recruitments will follow the earlier reservation structure of 15% for SCs and 3% for STs.
Meanwhile, the government has announced that it will restart the stalled recruitment drive within the next 30 days. As an initial step, notifications will be issued for filling 56,000 of the 2.5 lakh vacant posts, offering partial relief to job aspirants affected by the year-long freeze.
