J&K administration amends reservation rule for border dwellers, backwards areas category

The Jammu and Kashmir administration has amended reservation rules for border dwellers and backward areas category, officials said here Tuesday.

The amendment was carried out through a notification issued late Monday night by the Social Welfare Department, the officials said.

They said the department amended the rules for "person claiming reservation on backward area or an area near the Line of Actual Control/International Border Jammu and Kashmir".

"In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 23 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act 2004 and all other relevant provisions of law in this behalf, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir hereby directs that clause (III) of Rule 21 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Rules, 2005 shall be substituted by the following namely.

"A person claiming the benefit on the grounds that he/she belongs to an identified backward area or an area near the Line of Actual Control/International Border, must establish that he/she has resided in the area for a period of not less than 15 years prior to the date of application and is actually residing in the said area," the Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) 321 read.

It said a person shall not be disentitled from claiming this benefit only on the ground that his or her father or the person on whom he or she is dependent is living in a place which is not identified as backward or area near the Line of Actual Control or IB on account of his employment, business, other professional or vocational reasons and migration from one place to another place within the respective division due to security reasons.