L R Naik held an important position as the member of the Mandal Commission,

which was established in 1979 by the then prime minister Morarji Desai. The commission, headed by B P Mandal, was formed to consider the issue of reservation of seats for non-Dalit lower castes in government jobs.

Naik was the only Dalit member in the commission. Initially, it only had members from the other backward classes (OBCs). However, due to the sudden illness of Dina Bandhu Sahu, Naik was included in the committee.

Naik made headlines when he refused to sign the Mandal recommendations. Naik argued that the OBCs consist of two large occupational blocks: the intermediate backward classes or the upper OBCs and the depressed backward classes or the most backward castes. He suggested that the Mandal quota be split into two for protecting the interests of the most backward castes. He feared that the upper OBCs would monopolise the jobs granted under the OBC quotas. However, B P Mandal rejected his suggestions. Naik, in turn, refused to sign the Mandal’s recommendation. Later, he resigned from the commission following differences with B P Mandal.

Naik was also appointed as the Indian high commissioner for the United Kingdom. He had a long stint in politics and was the president of the Bijapur district unit of the Congress. He was also selected as the vice president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. The senior bureaucrat also served as commissioner of the Karnataka Trade Center in London. Naik died at the age of 86 on 2 September 1998.