The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed that Karnataka government's decision of scrapping four percent quota of Muslims would not be implemented till May 9.
The Supreme Court earlier deferred the hearing till today, April 25, on a batch of pleas challenging the scrapping of the four per cent Muslim quota in Karnataka after the state government sought time to file its reply.
A bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna said the assurance given by the state government on April 13 that no quota benefits in admission to educational institutions and appointment in government jobs will be given to Vokkaligas and Lingayats will hold till April 25.
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At the outset, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state government, said he has to argue before the constitution bench on same-sex marriage and they will compile the reply on the issue of quota over the weekend.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for some of the petitioners challenging the scrapping of the quota, did not object to the state's request but said they are given the reply over the weekend, so that they could go through it before the next date of hearing on April 25.
The Supreme Court earlier agreed to list for hearing a plea challenging the Karnataka government's decision to scrap the four per cent reservation for Muslims in the state.
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A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala took note of the submissions of senior advocate Kapil Sibal that all the defects of the petition have been removed.
“I mentioned this (petition) in court three yesterday. This is against the four per cent reservation being cancelled,” Sibal said.
What is the controversy all about?
Following the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Karnataka government's decision to scrap 4 per cent quota for Muslims in the state, Muslim leaders have slammed the decision and have said they would challenge it in the court.
Earlier on Saturday, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the religious minorities quota would be done away with and brought under the 10 per cent pool of the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) category without any change of condition.
The 4 per cent reservation given to Muslims under 2B classification of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category will now be divided into two equal parts and added to the existing quota of Vokkaligas and Lingayats for whom two new reservation categories of 2C and 2D were created during the Belagavi Assembly Session last year.
(With PTI Inputs)
