Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs H. K. Patil tabled the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (Amendment) Bill 2025 in the Assembly on March 18, 2025.
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The Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (Amendment) Bill 2025 was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on March 18 to introduce 4% reservation for Muslims in public contracts.
On March 14, the State Cabinet had approved an amendment to the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (KTPP) Act, reserving 4% of contracts for Muslims in civil works valued up to ₹2 crore, and goods and services contracts up to ₹1 crore.
Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs H. K. Patil tabled the bill, which is likely to come for discussion on March 19. The Bill proposes to amend the KTPP Act, 1999, to implement the proposal outlined in the 2025-26 budget speech.
The proposal was announced by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the 2025-26 State Budget, which was presented on March 7.
At present, Karnataka provides 24% reservations in civil works contracts for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), 4%, for Other Backward Classes (OBC) Category 1, and 15% for OBC Category 2A. There had been demands to include Muslims under Category 2B of the OBCs with a 4% quota.
The principal opposition BJP termed the government’s move to provide 4% reservation for Muslims in government contracts an ‘unconstitutional misadventure’ and ‘appeasement politics’, and decided to oppose it, including challenging it in court.
Published – March 18, 2025 03:50 pm IST
