Karnataka government moves to clear PTCL backlog and recruit 72,000 staff, Deputy CM G Parameshwara says

In a modest press conference in Bengaluru, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara tried to put a human face on a problem that has festered for years – the lag in implementing Karnataka’s PTCL (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands) Act. He didn’t just talk policy; he talked people – the 72,000 job‑seekers waiting for government posts, the Dalit families still wrestling with land‑transfer hurdles, and the students from SC/ST backgrounds who have been left out of reservations.

“We will fill up the backlog posts,” Parameshwara said, his voice steady but clearly aware of the pressure. The promise is simple on paper – a recruitment drive for 72,000 vacancies across the state – yet the path to those numbers has been anything but straightforward. The vacancies include positions in universities, key departments and a host of administrative posts that have sat empty, often earmarked for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks, he noted, has been the long‑standing “Provision D” of the PTCL Act of 1978 – a clause that makes it exceptionally hard for Dalits to sell or transfer land they have been allotted. The state has now removed that provision through an amendment, hoping to unclog the legal bottleneck. Still, the amendment’s rollout has been sluggish, prompting the deputy chief minister to vow a swift, decisive “appropriate decision soon.”

Beyond the land‑rights angle, Parameshwara touched on a few practical measures that his government is already rolling out. He mentioned a planned hike in post‑matric scholarships – from ₹1,800 to about ₹3,000 – and a commitment to foot the bill for SC/ST students studying abroad. Those announcements, while modest, hint at a broader strategy: using financial levers to offset the historic neglect of marginalized communities.

There’s also an investigative side to the story. A Special Investigation Team has been set up to probe alleged encroachments of roughly 150 acres of SC/ST land, notably involving the Art of Living Foundation. While the details remain murky, the very fact that an SIT is on the case signals that the state is taking the matter seriously – or at least wants to appear so.

Of course, no promise is without its unanswered questions. The exact timeline for the recruitment drive remains vague, and critics wonder whether the 72,000‑post target is realistic given budget constraints and bureaucratic inertia. Moreover, the removal of Provision D does not automatically translate into faster land transfers; it merely removes a legal hurdle, leaving administrative and on‑ground challenges still to be sorted.

Still, for many in Karnataka’s Dalit and tribal communities, the deputy chief minister’s words are more than political sound‑bites. They represent a tentative step toward rectifying decades of systemic neglect – a step that, if followed through, could reshape the landscape of public employment and land ownership in the state.