E-Paper
Understanding the residency requirement for jobs in Haryana
Congress and some BJP-JJP alliance MLAs had expressed concerns over the five-year domicile requirement instead of 15 years to get a resident certificate. It turns out their doubts are unfounded
Haryana’s controversial 75% private sector quota law had set off another debate last week when Congress lawmakers and some in the ruling BJP-JJP alliance expressed concerns over the five-year residency (domicile) requirement instead of 15 years to get a bona fide resident certificate. It turned out that most of the doubts were rather unfounded. Hitender Rao explains:
What is the requirement to get bona fide resident certificate in Haryana?
According to the January 14 order, children or dependents of persons having a permanent home in Haryana and those residing in Haryana for a period of not less than five years or who have a permanent home in Haryana but on account of their occupation are living outside Haryana will be eligible for grant of resident certificate. The earlier requirement for getting a resident certificate was 15 years.
Why did the state government bring down the residency requirement to five years?
This was done to provide some flexibility to private companies in hiring when the private sector job quota law gets implemented. The law provides for 75% of new employment to Haryana domiciled candidates for private sector jobs having gross salary of not more than ₹50,000 per month.
What were the concerns expressed by the ruling alliance and opposition MLAs regarding the amended residency requirement?
The worry is that due to the amended domicile condition, Haryana-based Scheduled Caste aspirants will face competition in government jobs from SCs of other states settled in Haryana.
Can residency be ground for getting a government job?
No. Article 16 of the Constitution provides for equality of opportunity in matters of public employment. Article 16(2) says no citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them, be ineligible for, or discriminated against in respect of, any employment or office under the state.
What about reservation in government jobs for the SCs?
Article 16 (4) of the Constitution provided for reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens.
So, won’t the amended residency requirement facilitate SCs of other states to compete in Haryana?
No. Accordign to a four-judge 2018 Supreme Court judgment, a person recognised as a member of SC in his original state, will be entitled to all benefits of reservation under the Constitution in that state only and not in other states or union territories.
What was the basis of the SC judgment?
The top court had said that consideration for specifying a particular caste, or class for inclusion in the list of SCs or backward classes in a given state depends on the nature and extent of disadvantages and social hardships suffered by these individuals in that state and these may be absent in another state to which the person belonging to some other state may migrate.
Won’t an SC person of another state whose caste is recognised in Haryana get benefit of the changed residency requirement?
No. Only a person who is resident of Haryana by birth or an employee or dependent of a state government employee is entitled to get a caste certificate. The caste certificate is essential to confirm a person’s eligibility for reservation in public employment.
