The assurance that no step will be taken in pursuance of the order continues to operate.
—-
ON Tuesday, a Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices K.M. Joseph and B.V. Nagarathna granted more time to the state of Karnataka to file a reply on the plea that challenged and prayed for stay on the contentious government order (GO) that scrapped a 4 percent reservation quota for Muslims as part of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category in education and public employment in the state. On April 13, the Bench had allowed the state to file its reply on Tuesday. The matter has now been posted for hearing on April 25.
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the state of Karnataka, prayed for more time to finalise and submit the state's reply to the plea, and pleaded for the matter to be heard on April 25. He further submitted that his statement of assurance given on the previous date, that the state government of Karnataka will not take any steps in terms of appointments and admissions in pursuance of the GO, will continue till April 25.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing on behalf of the petitioners, urged that the reply should be provided to the petitioners by the weekend, that is, by April 22.
On Mehta's assurance that no step will be taken in pursuance of the GO, the Bench adjourned the plea and posted the matter to be heard on April 25.
On April 13, the Bench heard the plea to stay the GO, which reclassified the OBC category by scrapping the 4 percent reservation quota for Muslims under OBC category II(B) and moving them to the Economically Weaker Sections quota. Additionally, the Vokkaligas and the Lingayats (both demographically, politically and economically dominant social groups within the state), previously included under categories III(A) and III(B), were granted an additional 2 percent each of the freed-up reserved seats, increasing their share in the OBC reservation pool.
The announcement of the GO was made a day after a division Bench of the Karnataka High Court had vacated a January stay on the state government's order creating two new OBC sub-categories for the Lingayats and the Vokkaligas. The high court lifted the stay after Mehta assured the court that the new OBC sub-quotas would not affect the existing 15 per cent quota for other OBCs.
Earlier, on the behalf of the petitioners, Senior Advocates Dushyant Dave, Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Prof. Ravivarma Kumar, argued that the GO was passed summarily, without any enquiry, empirical data or report to support it. The petitioners also alleged that the GO falsely states that at the time the II(B) category was created and Muslims were classified as backward classes, there was neither any recommendation by any authority nor was there empirical data for granting them reservation.
It was also highlighted by the petitioners that with the approaching academic year, applications are required to be made for admission to all educational institutions for entrance exams. The GO deprives the Muslim community in Karnataka of availing the benefit of reservation, it was argued.
On the other hand, Mehta, for the state government, had claimed that the petitioners had failed to prove the need for an immediate stay and questioned the urgency of the stay, seeking time to file a reply to the plea.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Vokkaliga and the Lingayat communities, had argued that the present case pertains to not only of cancellation of the quota for Muslims but also the grant of the quota to other communities, and urged for time to file a reply