HC puts on hold Haryana's Jat job quota, Khattar to get stay vacated

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday put on hold Haryana government's recent notification according 10 percent quota in jobs for Jats and five other communities. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said his government will "make all possible efforts to get the stay vacated".

The high court order came in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Bhiwani resident Murari Lal Gupta, who argued the decision was contrary to the constitution's basic structure as he cited the Supreme Court ruling last year that the Jats could not be treated as a backward community.

The petitioner argued that after the apex court ruling, the state legislature had no right to pass the act.

Reacting to the development, Khattar said that the "BJP government would not wait till July 21 (the next date of hearing in the court when the Haryana government has been asked to submit its reply) to initiate legal action against the ex parte decision of Punjab and Haryana High Court as per which the court has granted interim stay on benefit of reservation to six castes including Jat, Jat Sikh, Mula Jat, Bishnoi, Ror and Tyagi under Backward Classes 'C' category in government jobs and admission to educational institutes in the state".

"The BJP government would present its case in the high court at the earliest and would make all possible efforts to get the stay vacated," he said in a statement, adding that the reservation was given "within the ambit of the constitution".

Khattar said that had the previous government legally given reservation benefit to these castes, the issue would have not got entangled in the court.

The Haryana government on May 13 notified the Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in services and Admission in Educational Institutions) Act, 2016, to provide reservation in services and admission to people belonging to backward classes in the state, including the politically dominant Jat community.

The act provides for 10 percent job reservation for Class III and IV posts and six percent reservation in Class I and II posts to these six castes as well as 10 percent reservation in admissions to educational institutions.

The Haryana assembly on March 29 this year unanimously passed the bill.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government had promised reservation for the Jat community and others after the Jat agitation for reservation left the state paralysed for nine days in February this year.

As many as 30 people were killed and 320 injured and property worth hundreds of crores of rupees was destroyed during the violent agitation.

--IANS

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