Karnataka High Court strikes down provisions raising SC/ST reservation beyond the 50% ceiling

12 October 2026

On Monday, 12 October 2026, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice K.S. Hemalekha of the Karnataka High Court struck down Section 4 of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Act, 2022, and Section 3 of the Act insofar as it takes aggregate reservation beyond the 50% ceiling. The Act raised Scheduled Caste reservation from 15% to 17% and Scheduled Tribe reservation from 3% to 7%; with reservation for other backward classes (OBC) of 32% unchanged, aggregate reservation rose from 50% to 56%. The Court held that the 50% ceiling is a firm rule grounded in the equality clauses, not a rule of prudence or an ad hoc, elastic rule, and that it admits departure only in extraordinary circumstances. It held that population growth, and reservation being lower than population share, are not extraordinary circumstances. Section 3 was struck down as violating Articles 14 and 15, and Section 4 as violating Articles 14 and 16. The Act, which replaced an Ordinance, came into effect retrospectively from 1 November 2022 and was based on the Nagamohan Das Commission Report.