HC TAKES UP PETITION AGAINST JAT QUOTA

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court bench of justices SS Saron and Lisa Gill has put the Haryana government on notice on a petition challenging the law passed by it on reservation to 83 castes or communities, including Jats, on the ground that total quota has crossed 50% ceiling put by the Supreme Court.

The government had substituted the earlier law, expanding its scope to include six communities, including Jats. In this law there are 71 castes or communities in schedule-I and six under schedule-2. In schedule-3, 6 communities were added, which is under challenge in another set of petitions, where the arguments are in final stages.

The Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admission in Educational Institutions) Act, 2016, was passed by the state assembly on March 29. This petition was filed by advocate Shakti Singh of Jind in May, 2016, but the court had not issued notice on this petition so far.

It has been argued that in the Act, reservation in Class-3 and 4 government jobs has been “extended up to 70%” and further that government enacted the law “under the pressure of a particular caste” and “without obtaining any survey, committee or commission report”.

It has further been argued that the law was passed despite the Supreme Court ruling in ‘Ram Singh and another’ of March 2015 that the Jats are not socially, educationally, politically backward and have adequate representation in public employment. The reply has been sought by March 3.

Meanwhile, the HC will take up other petitions in which quota under Schedule-3 is under challenge on Wednesday.