HC puts on hold Haryana's job quota for Jats, others

The Haryana government's recent notification according 10 percent job reservation on Jat and five other communities was put on hold by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday.

The high court order came in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Bhiwani resident Murari Lal Gupta.

The petitioner had argued that the Haryana government's decision was contrary to the basic structure of the Constitution. 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 Supreme Court ruled that Jats could not be treated as a backward community, the state legislature had no right to pass the act.

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 in educational institutions to persons 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 the Jat, Jat Sikhs, Ror, Bishnoi, Tyagi, Mulla Jat or Muslim Jat in Schedule III.

It also gives 10 percent reservation in admissions to educational institutions to people belonging to these castes, a state government spokesman said here.

The Haryana assembly on March 29 this year unanimously passed the bill to provide reservation in jobs and edu7cational institutions to Jats and other communities.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state 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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