Siddaramaiah favours internal quota for SCs; to consult legal experts

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday told a delegation of Congress legislators and leaders from the Scheduled Caste community that he was in favour of internal reservation for SCs and would hold a comprehensive discussion with legal experts on the Supreme Court judgment in this regard and take an appropriate decision.

The delegation led by Ministers K H Muniyappa, R B Timmapur, former minister H Anjaneya and former Rajya Sabha member L Hanumanthaiah met the chief minister and held discussion regarding the implementation of internal reservation.

"I have welcomed the Supreme Court's judgment on internal reservation. I am for internal reservation," Siddaramaiah was quoted as saying by his office in a statement.

The chief minister told the delegation that he would hold a comprehensive discussion with legal experts about the Supreme Court judgment and take an appropriate decision, it said.

In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court on August 1 held that states are constitutionally empowered to make sub-classifications within the Scheduled Castes, which form a socially heterogeneous class, for granting reservation for the uplift of castes that are socially and educationally more backward.

A seven-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, by a majority of 6:1, set aside the apex court's five-judge bench verdict of 2004 in the EV Chinnaiah vs State of Andhra Pradesh case which had held that no sub-classification of Scheduled Castes (SCs) can be allowed as they are a homogeneous class in themselves.