New Delhi: The Supreme Court last week criticised Karnataka government's controversial March 27 decision ending 4% Muslim quota in the state and said the "foundation of the order is shaky" and appeared to be "based on absolutely fallacious assumptions".
Hearing appeals against the order, a bench of Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna said, "The order could not have been passed based on an interim report of the commission. The state could have waited till a final report."
Sensing that the court was inclined to stay the order, the Karnataka government gave an undertaking that the decision would not be implemented immediately. By the impugned order, the state had shifted Muslims from the socially and educationally backward classes (SEBCs) to the economically weaker section (EWS) to end the 4% reservation they had since 2002. The 4% quota so freed was distributed equally among Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities.
During the course of the hearing in the SC, the bench said, “On the basis of the documents and materials produced before us, it appears that Muslims were backward and then suddenly it has changed.” Senior advocates Dushyant Dave, Kapil Sibal and Gopal Shankaranarayanan appeared for petitioners from the Muslim community and said the government had not carried out any study and there was no data available to justify denying quota to Muslims.
“The Muslim community needs protection from the Supreme Court,” Dave said. He went on to argue that several commissions had repeatedly categorised Muslims as one of the most backward communities deserving reservation. The March 27 order, which erased the 4% quota enjoyed by Muslims for more than two decades, was not based on any in-depth study and was arbitrary, he said.