An amendment Bill providing for reservation for Muslims in government contracts was tabled in the Karnataka Assembly on Tuesday. The four per cent quota for civil works worth less than Rs 2 crore and procurement of goods and services worth less than Rs 1 crore is in addition to the reservation in place for other OBC communities and SC/ST in the state.
The Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements (Amendment) Bill 2025 was introduced by Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil after the cabinet cleared it in a meeting held on March 14.
The quota, announced in the budget presented by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on March 7, has been termed “unconstitutional” by the Opposition BJP.
As per existing norms in the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act, 17.5 per cent reservation is provided to the Scheduled Castes, 6.5 per cent to the Scheduled Tribes, four per cent to the Other Backward Classes in category 1 and 15 per cent to the OBCs in the 2A category. Muslims will now get reservation under the OBC category of 2B.
Among eight new Bills presented in the Assembly on Tuesday was the Karnataka Land Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2025, which aims to penalise revenue officers who collude with land-grabbers and make fraudulent entries in revenue records in favour of them.
According to the statement of objectives and reasons of the Bill, at present “no action can be initiated against such officials since section 135 of the Act bars suits being filed against the State and its officials regarding entries made in the record of rights”.
The proposed legislation aims to prevent fraudulent entries in revenue records and introduces more stringent norms to hold officials accountable for such practices.