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Karnataka High Court strikes down SC/ST quota hike breaching 50% ceiling

By CAShorts DeskPublished Source: High Court of Karnataka judgment (WP 200448/2025), The Hindu, Bar & Bench

Karnataka High Court strikes down SC/ST quota hike breaching 50% ceiling
Illustration (AI-generated)

The Karnataka High Court on 12 October 2026 struck down a 2022 State law raising SC reservation from 15% to 17% and ST reservation from 3% to 7%. The rise had taken total reservation to 56%. The Court held the 50% ceiling binding under Articles 14, 15 and 16 and ruled that the EWS quota does not lift it.

Syllabus: GS2 · Constitution; Prelims · Polity & Governance; GS2 · Constitutional Bodies

Why this matters for UPSC

GS2 polity: Articles 14, 15 and 16, the 50% ceiling from Indra Sawhney and the EWS quota. Prelims can ask the reservation clauses and the NCSC and NCST; Mains, whether quotas may follow population.

Why it matters

A student applying for an engineering seat or a candidate sitting a State recruitment exam in Karnataka competes for a share of seats that reservation decides. Under the 2022 Act, only 44% of posts were open to general merit; the judgment holds total reservation to the 50% limit, which the Court treats as protecting the seats open to general merit. Recruitments made on the higher roster may now face fresh questions. The larger issue is national: several States want quotas matched to population, and courts keep holding that equality of opportunity caps reservation at half of seats unless a truly exceptional case is proved with data.

Prelims pointers

  • Article 15(4): special provisions for socially and educationally backward classes, SCs and STs; inserted by the First Amendment, 1951.
  • Article 16(4): reservation in appointments for backward classes not adequately represented in the services under the State.
  • M.R. Balaji v. State of Mysore (1963): first statement of the 50% ceiling, in a case on admissions to engineering and medical colleges.
  • Indra Sawhney v. Union of India (1992): nine-judge Bench; 50% ceiling, breachable only in extraordinary situations such as far-flung, remote populations.
  • 103rd Amendment, 2019: inserted Articles 15(6) and 16(6), up to 10% reservation for economically weaker sections; upheld in Janhit Abhiyan (2022).
  • Article 338: National Commission for Scheduled Castes; Article 338A: National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, separate since the 89th Amendment, 2003.
  • Articles 338(9) and 338A(9): the Union and every State Government must consult the commission on all major policy matters affecting SCs or STs.

Practise a UPSC-style question

With reference to reservation under the Constitution of India, consider the following statements:

1. Article 16(4) permits reservation in appointments for any backward class not adequately represented in the services under the State.

2. Clause (4) of Article 15 was inserted by the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. (a) 1 only
  2. (b) 2 only
  3. (c) Both 1 and 2
  4. (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Show the answer

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

1 is correct: Article 16(4) allows reservation of appointments or posts for a backward class that, in the State's opinion, is not adequately represented in its services. 2 is correct: Article 15(4), enabling special provisions for socially and educationally backward classes, SCs and STs, was added by the First Amendment in 1951.

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