Sukhjeevan Sharma,
INVC,
Panchkula,
The Haryana government has approved the proposal for providing 10 percent reservation to “economically backward classes” in general category. With this fresh addition, Haryana now has a 67 per cent reservation in government jobs in the state and happens to be the first state to provide quota to the general category. But will the state government’s decision to implement these recommendations stand legal scrutiny? Haryana is the first state in India, where reservation in jobs to the general category people has been notified. As per the notification, 10 per cent jobs would be for those from the general category or the so called upper castes but living below the poverty line set by the state. In Haryana’s case, the state has set it at an annual income of Rs 2.50 lakh per year. But the question all are asking is that are there enough people fit to get reservation and with such low income ?Recently Brahmin Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti met the Haryana Governor and said that nearly 70 per cent Brahmins in the state were `economically backward’. Similarly, Rajputs who form a tiny part of Haryana’s population too claim that many among them are economically living on the social margins.However, the chairman of the Haryana Backward Castes Commission (retd) Justice KC Gupta said that they had recommended 3.50 lakh as the annual limit of earning below which reservation should be provided to people from the general category. However, the Haryana government further reduced it to 2.50 lakh per year.While Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti general secretary Hawa Singh Sangwan has welcomed the move, the question which still remains unanswered is legally is the quota of 67 per cent in jobs possible. The Supreme Court had given a verdict that the quota in government jobs cannot exceed 50 per cent. While Haryana is following the Tamil Nadu pattern – the Supreme Court is currently also examining the legal status of how 69 per cent quota has been provided in government jobs in the state.Though, there is one major difference — while in Tamil Nadu the most of thte non-Brahmins fall in the backward castes are form a major chunk of population of the state. The same is not truw of Haryana.This cabinet approval could bring political benefits to the Cong, but will the total of 67 per cent quota in the state find any rationale in the eyes of law is a question which remains wide open to discussion.
