Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking "urgent intervention" to include the state's Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes reservation law in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, news agency ANI reported on Saturday. The letter was also sent to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Social Justice Minister Virendra Kumar.

Source: ANI

The letter follows the Karnataka High Court's judgement of October 12, which struck down the provisions that had enhanced reservation to 17 per cent for Scheduled Castes and 7 per cent for Scheduled Tribes. According to Parameshwara's letter, the court held that "the resulting aggregate reservation of 56 per cent exceeded the prevailing constitutional ceiling of 50 per cent."

The law at the centre of the dispute is 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, enacted as Karnataka Act No. 1 of 2023. It had raised the SC quota from 15 to 17 per cent and the ST quota from 3 to 7 per cent in education and government jobs.

In the letter, Parameshwara said the reservation percentages for these communities had remained unchanged since 1958 despite population growth. He cited the 2011 Census, which recorded SCs and STs at about 17.15 per cent and 6.95 per cent of Karnataka's population, and noted that the Nagamohan Das Commission had recommended the increase and had also expressly recommended that the enhanced reservation legislation be included in the Ninth Schedule.

The Deputy Chief Minister also set out the history of the demand: the state sent its proposal to the Union Government on March 23, 2023; the Assembly passed a resolution on December 18, 2025; and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah wrote to the Prime Minister on April 16. He said the Centre told the Lok Sabha on July 25, 2026 that inclusion was "not considered appropriate" at that stage because the matter was pending before the High Court.

Parameshwara urged the Prime Minister to direct the concerned ministries "to urgently initiate the process for bringing an appropriate Constitution Amendment Bill before Parliament" to include the Act in the Ninth Schedule, and sought a time-bound decision, citing Tamil Nadu's 69 per cent reservation framework as a precedent.

Two tracks: Parliament and the Supreme Court

Alongside the letter to the Centre, the state is pursuing its legal remedy. Chief Minister D K Shivakumar has said the Cabinet decided to file an appeal in the Supreme Court against the High Court ruling on increased SC/ST reservation and internal reservation, and that Parameshwara, along with Ministers K H Muniyappa and Satish Jarkiholi, has been entrusted with overseeing the legal proceedings.

Source: The Hindu

What happens next rests with the Union Government: placing a law in the Ninth Schedule requires a constitutional amendment passed by Parliament, while the state's Supreme Court appeal against the October 12 judgement will proceed on its own track.