Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah, had flatly denied reports suggesting changes to backward class reservations under his Congress government. The allegations, he said, are baseless and went on to explain that the inclusion of Muslims in the backward class reservation dates back to the L.G. Havanur Commission Report of 1974.
Addressing the issue, Siddaramaiah said his government had not touched anything in the quota, which was made for the backward class. He pointed to a decision of one of the past governments to cancel the 4 per cent quota for Muslims under category 2B, which had been taken and is under judicial review in the Supreme Court. Promising that his government was not going to implement the decision that time, Bommai had once promised.
Siddaramaiah criticised the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) for issuing a press note on an issue that was outside its jurisdiction. He clarified that state governments alone have the authority to decide the backward class categorisations and the NCBC has nothing to do with it.
The NCBC was accused by Siddaramaiah of politicizing the issue to create confusion before the elections. He described the press note issued by the NCBC as false. He clarified that the reservation for Muslims as part of the backward class was given in 1977 and had survived the turmoil of legal procedures over the years.
The recognition of Muslims as part of the backward class was long established with the regular orders passed by different commissions such as Havanur, Venkataswamy, Chinnappa Reddy, and Professor Ravi Verma Kumar. Siddaramaiah reiterated the legal status of Muslim inclusion in the category of the backward class.
