Karnataka Seeks Ninth Schedule Cover for Its Higher SC/ST Quota After High Court Ruling
The Karnataka government has decided to write to the Union government asking it to place the state's higher reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. Laws in this list get special protection from court challenges.
This comes after the High Court of Karnataka struck down the main parts 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.
The 2022 law raised the SC quota from 15% to 17% and the ST quota from 3% to 7%. Together with the existing 32% for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), total reservation in the state reached 56%.
A division bench (a bench of two judges) led by the Chief Justice held on 12 October 2026 that Sections 3 and 4 of the Act break Articles 14 and 15 (the right to equality), because the total went above the 50% ceiling set by the Supreme Court in Indra Sawhney (1992).
The state had argued that more than 90% of its people belong to SC, ST and OBC groups. The court said this alone does not justify crossing the ceiling. The Union government had earlier put off the state's Ninth Schedule request because the case was pending in court.
The Ninth Schedule: Laws Shielded from Court Challenge
The Ninth Schedule is a list of laws attached to the Constitution. Under Article 31B, a law placed in this list cannot be struck down only because it violates Fundamental Rights. It was created by the First Amendment Act, 1951 to protect land reform laws. A law can be added only by a constitutional amendment passed by Parliament. But since the I.R. Coelho judgment of 2007, this shield is no longer complete.
Karnataka is asking the Centre to move its 2022 law into the Ninth Schedule so that the higher SC/ST quota cannot be cancelled on the ground of breaking the 50% ceiling. Only Parliament can do this, and even then the courts could check it against the basic structure.
Indra Sawhney v. Union of India (1992): The 50% Ceiling Rule
Indra Sawhney v. Union of India, decided by a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court in 1992, is the most important case on reservation in India. It upheld 27% reservation for OBCs in central government jobs. It also said that total reservation should normally not cross 50%, so that the right to equality for everyone else is not lost. Only "extraordinary situations", such as people in far-flung and remote areas, may justify going above it.
The High Court used the 50% rule from Indra Sawhney to strike down Karnataka's 2022 law. It held that a large backward-class population is not by itself an "extraordinary situation" that allows the state to go beyond the ceiling.
Reservation Policy in Tamil Nadu: The 69% Model
Tamil Nadu reserves 69% of seats in state jobs and state educational institutions for backward groups, far above the 50% ceiling. It has been able to keep this level because its 1993 reservation law was placed in the Ninth Schedule by Parliament. This is why other states, like Karnataka, often point to Tamil Nadu when they want to raise their own quotas. But the Tamil Nadu law is itself still under challenge in the Supreme Court.
Karnataka wants the same route that protected Tamil Nadu's 69%: a constitutional amendment adding its law to the Ninth Schedule. Whether the Centre agrees, and whether such cover would survive judicial review, are both open questions.
- Law struck down: Karnataka SC and ST (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Act, 2022 (Sections 3 and 4)
- SC quota raised from 15% to 17%; ST quota from 3% to 7%
- OBC quota in Karnataka: 32%; total after the 2022 law: 56%
- Ruling: High Court of Karnataka division bench, 12 October 2026; grounds: Articles 14 and 15, 50% ceiling
- Ninth Schedule: Article 31B, First Amendment Act, 1951
- Indra Sawhney (1992): nine-judge bench, 50% ceiling
- I.R. Coelho (2007): Ninth Schedule laws added after 24 April 1973 open to basic structure review
- Tamil Nadu 69% law: Ninth Schedule via 76th Amendment Act, 1994