BENGALURU, Oct. 13 -- The Karnataka High Court on Monday struck down the previous BJP government's decision to increase reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, ruling that the move breached the 50% constitutional ceiling and raised the state's overall quota to 56%. A division bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice K S Hemalekha set aside the enhanced quotas introduced by the government led by former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, which raised the SC quota from 15% to 17% and the ST quota from 3% to 7%. The increases were recommended by a commission headed by Justice H N Nagamohan Das. The Bommai government approved them in October 2022 and subsequently enacted legislation to implement the changes. With the existing 32% reservation for Other Backward Classes, the total quota rose from 50% to 56%. The decision was challenged through a PIL filed by Mahendra Kumar Mishra, state president of the Dr Ambedkar Scheduled Castes Federation. In November 2025, the High Court had restricted fresh recruitment notifications under the enhanced quota law....