The Karnataka Cabinet on Monday, July 15 cleared a bill requiring a substantial portion of jobs in the private sector within the state to be filled by local candidates. The Karnataka State Employment of Local Candidates in the Industries, Factories, and Other Establishments Bill, 2024, is set to be introduced in the ongoing legislative session. This legislation mandates that a certain percentage of jobs in these sectors must be reserved for local candidates.
Who is considered a local candidate?
The Bill specifies that a local candidate must be someone born in Karnataka who has been domiciled in the state for at least 15 years. Additionally, the candidate must be proficient in Kannada, capable of speaking, reading, and writing the language legibly. Candidates should have a secondary school certificate with Kannada as a language. If they do not possess this, they must pass a Kannada proficiency test conducted by a government-designated nodal agency.
Quotas
The legislation requires that 50% of management positions and 75% of non-management positions in industries, factories, and other establishments be reserved for local candidates. Any person who holds positions of supervisory, managerial, technical, operational, administrative and higher positions in any factory, industry, company, establishment, excluding the directors, falls under the management category. Those involved in clerical, unskilled, semi-skilled,skilled, IT/ITES, contract and casual work fall under the non-management category.
If there are not enough qualified local candidates available, industries must work with the government to train local candidates within three years to meet these requirements.
The Bill includes provisions for exemptions. If an industry or establishment cannot find enough qualified local candidates, it can apply for a relaxation of the quota requirements. The government will conduct an inquiry and may grant appropriate exemptions. However, even with exemptions, the quota for local candidates must not fall below 25% for management positions and 50% for non-management categories. Non-compliance with the Bill's provisions may result in penalties ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that 100% Kannadigas should be hired for C and D grade posts in all private industries in the state. C and D grade posts are the lower level posts in Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) such as clerks, lab technicians, and pharmacists. The monthly salary for Group C posts ranges from Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000.
History
The Bill addresses a long-standing demand for job reservations for Kannadigas. Recently, Kannada organisations held rallies advocating for the immediate implementation of the Sarojini Mahishi report, which recommended job quotas for locals in government and private sectors. The report, submitted in 1984 by former Union Minister Sarojini Mahishi, proposed 58 recommendations, including a 100% reservation for locals in group C and D jobs in Union government departments and public sector undertakings operating in Karnataka.
Previously, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government had attempted to introduce 100% reservation for locals in all private industries, excluding the IT-BT sector. However, this initiative was halted by the Law Department, which deemed it unconstitutional under Articles 14 and 16, which guarantee equality before the law and prohibit discrimination in public employment, respectively.
Similar legislation in other states
In 2023, the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act, 2020, which mandated 75% reservation for state domiciles in private sector jobs with monthly salaries under Rs 30,000. The court ruled that the Act exceeded the State's legislative authority by restricting private employers from hiring freely from the open market. It also found the Act violated the constitutional guarantees of equality under Article 14 and freedom under Article 19.
The court argued that the 75% reservation for locals infringed on the rights of citizens from other states, potentially prompting similar restrictive measures nationwide and effectively erecting "artificial walls" across India. It emphasised that such restrictions unreasonably hinder workers' right to move freely throughout the country. Additionally, the court likened the Act's requirements on private employers to the burdensome regulations of the "Inspector Raj" era.
States like Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand have also enacted similar legislation. The Andhra Pradesh High Court has suggested that its State's Bill, passed in 2019, “may be unconstitutional.”.