Governor Tahawarchand Gehlot has been reserved for the assent of the president, the bill of the Government of Congress to introduce a 4% quota for Muslims in the contracts to “avoid more constitutional complications” while stating that the religion of the Council was based.
The Karnataka Transparency Law Project in Public Contracts (amendment) was approved in the budget session of the state legislature in March. The bill proposes to provide Muslims with the 4% quota in construction works contracts valued up to ₹ 1 crore.
The BJP opposition has strongly opposed the bill and described it as “appeasement policy” of the ruling congress in Karnataka.
The governor’s decision occurred after Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Haryana recently criticized the Government of Congress to obtain reservations in tenders based on religion by “snatching” the rights of SC/STS and OBC.
“The constitution of India does not allow the reserve based on religion, since it violates the principles of equality (article 14), not discrimination (article 15) and equal opportunities in public employment (article 16),” Gehlot said in his communication to the government.
The governor said that the Supreme Court “has been” constantly “that affirmative action must be based on social and educational backwardness and not religious identity.
Before the elections of the 2023 assembly, the previous BJP government withdrew the 4% reservation under category 2B and the case is pending in the Supreme Court.
In a recent judgment by Saurabh Chaudri vs. Union of India (2003), the Supreme Court said that articles 15 and 16 prohibited reserves on the basis of religion and any affirmed action must be rather based on socio -economic factors.
The governor pointed out a case of the Superior Court of Calcutta on the classification of 77 Muslim communities such as OBC in Western Bengal, which was attacked.
The bill also increases the reservation limit in construction work contracts for SC/STS of ₹ 1 crore to ₹ 2 million rupees. It also introduces reservation for SC/STS, category-1, category-2a and category 2-B (Muslims) or OBC in government tenders for the acquisition of goods and services of up to ₹ 1 crore.
Published – April 17, 2025 12:10 am isth