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Haryana’s move of sub-classification of SCs challenged in HC

By, Chandigarh
Jan 25, 2025 05:06 AM IST

The high court bench of justice Arun Palli and justice Sudeepti Sharma posted the matter for hearing on February 17 while asking the state’s counsel to file affidavit on the issues raised by the petitioner.

The Haryana government decision of sub-classification of Scheduled Caste (SC) categories has been challenged in the Punjab and Haryana high court.

The Haryana government decision of sub-classification of Scheduled Caste (SC) categories has been challenged in the Punjab and Haryana high court. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/ Representational image)
The Haryana government decision of sub-classification of Scheduled Caste (SC) categories has been challenged in the Punjab and Haryana high court. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/ Representational image)

The high court bench of justice Arun Palli and justice Sudeepti Sharma posted the matter for hearing on February 17 while asking the state’s counsel to file affidavit on the issues raised by the petitioner.

The plea was from Haryana Pradesh Chamar Mahasabha, a registered society in the state comprising of chamars, a SC caste.

The plea seeks quashing of November 13 notification of the state government whereby sub-classification has been done in reservation provided to the SCs in government jobs in the state. The plea also seeks quashing of the report submitted by the Haryana State Commission for Scheduled Castes regarding sub-classification on August 16, 2024.

The Haryana government decision had come in the backdrop of the apex court on August 1, 2024, judgement ruling that a 1994 Haryana government notification by which the Scheduled Castes in the state were classified into two categories is valid.

The state has categorized SCs into categories, Deprived Scheduled Castes (DSC) and Other Scheduled Castes (OSC). As per the notification, within the existing 20% quota reserved for Scheduled Castes, 1/2 have been reserved for Deprived Scheduled Castes (DSC) whereas the remaining half have been reserved for the Other Scheduled Castes (OSC). As many as 39 castes have been put on DSC category and 15 castes including Chamars have been put in OSC category under the Haryana Scheduled Castes (Reservation in Admission in

Educational Institutions) Act, 2020.

The plea argues the report given the commission based on which two categories were carved out was submitted within a period of 2 weeks from the apex court judgment and is not backed by any quantifiable data. “It provides no reason whatsoever as to why a particular caste has been tagged as Deprived Scheduled Caste or one belonging to a socially advanced group i.e. Other Scheduled Caste,” it says.

It further says sub-classification has been done only on the basis of representation in state services, that too based on “outdated, insufficient and questionable data” which is not only arbitrary, violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India, but also against the mandate of law laid down by the Supreme Court.

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