Haryana Cabinet accepts backward classes panel report on reservation

The Haryana Cabinet on Monday accepted the State Backward Classes Commission's report on the proportion of reservation for the communities in urban local body elections, according to an official statement.

The commission has recommended that every municipal body shall have at least one councillor belonging to backward classes Block-A if its population is not less than two per cent of the total population of the urban local body, it said.

There are as many as 78 backward classes in the state and more than 70 of them fall in Block-A sub-category.

The commission, headed by Justice (retired) Darshan Singh, conducted an empirical assessment of the political backwardness of the backward classes.

In the assessment, the commission found that the backward classes Block-A are not adequately represented in the political setup, so they require the support of reservation in the elections of urban local bodies and municipalities for adequate participation in the grassroots democratic setup, according to the statement.

The cabinet, which met here Monday evening under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, accepted the commission's report.

According to the statement, the commission has stated that as per the directions of the Supreme Court, the reservation shall not exceed the aggregate of 50 per cent of the total seats reserved in favour of Scheduled Castes and BC (A) taken together in a particular urban local body/municipality.

In order to clarify the interpretation of the recommendations, the following examples have been cited by the commission, it said.

"Say, for example, in the urban local area 'A', the population of the backward classes Block A of citizens is 25 per cent of the total population of that urban local area then 12.5 per cent of seats shall be reserved for BC-A category subject to the other conditions mentioned.

"Where...the population of the Scheduled Castes is 50 per cent or more, the BC-A will not get any reservation irrespective of the percentage of their population," it said.