Bengaluru, Oct 18 (IANS): The Karnataka government is preparing to take the ordinance route to raise the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Schedule Tribe (ST) reservation quota.

The state's Transport and Scheduled Tribes Welfare Minister B. Sriramulu on Monday said that an ordinance will be promulgated for the SC/ST reservation soon.

Once the ordinance is in place, reservation for SCs will go up to 17 per cent from the present 15 per cent, while ST reservation quota will increase to 7 per cent from the 3 per cent at present.

The move to increase the reservation for SC/STs by the state government will mean that reservation will cross the Supreme Court's 50 per cent limit judgement and touch 56 per cent in Karnataka.

Sriramulu added that the process has begun and the ordinance will be promulgated in a day or two.

"In order to ensure legal protection for the quota hike, the state government will recommend bringing it under the 9th Schedule of the Constitution," he said.

The state government opted for the ordinance route instead of the original plan of implementing the quota hike through an executive order and gazette notification.