HC upholds constitutional validity of the Haryana Backward Classes Act

Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday upheld the constitutional validity of the Haryana Backward Classes Act 2016.

The court has referred the petition to the National Commission for Backward Classes which will finally decide this issue up to March 31, 2018.

Talking on the court's decision, Assistant Advocate General (AAG) Haryana, Lokesh Singhal said, "The bench has further directed that the state government will place the data collected before the backward class commission or the commission will collect the data on its own. On the basis of which the percentage of reservation, which has to be granted, shall be determined."

Singhal further said that till the time the commission decides, the reservation granted to caste mentioned in Class-III shall remain in abeyance.

In March 2016, the Haryana assembly passed the Haryana Backward Classes Bill which granted reservation to Jats and four other communities in government jobs and education.

The Haryana Backward Classes Bill 2016 was passed unanimously by the state assembly on March 29, 2016 which provided 10 per cent reservation to six communities in government jobs, services and admission in the educational institutes. These six communities are Jats, Sikhs, Mulla Jat Muslims, Bishnois, Rors and Tyagis under the backward class category.

Jat community, which constitutes up to 26 per cent of the total population of Haryana, had threatened to start a stir if the court rejected the reservation plea. According to the law implemented by the apex court, the reservation limit should not exceed beyond 50 per cent.