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Apex court’s ruling brings Jat quota demand under focus
Chandigarh The Supreme Court’s decision to scrap a quota for Marathas on Wednesday has brought under focus similar agitations for reservation by other dominant communities
Chandigarh The Supreme Court’s decision to scrap a quota for Marathas on Wednesday has brought under focus similar agitations for reservation by other dominant communities.
In Haryana, where a law granting 10% quota for Jats is being held in abeyance, leaders of the agitation said they will call a mega meeting of major communities to decide the next course of action.
According to All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) chief Yashpal Malik, the Apex Court verdict was on expected lines. He said now a political consensus is required.
“We will call a meeting of representatives of Jat, Maratha, Patel and other communities whose reservation has been stuck down by the top court,” said All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) chief Yashpal Malik, who was leading the agitation for Jat reservation.
“If this reservation is not valid as per the constitution, as the judgment says, then the people who have provided reservation beyond this limit should be punished for passing such misleading laws for their political gains,” he added.
He said the governments had intentionally fooled people by giving them reservation without following norms. Endorsing his views, Hawa Singh Sangwan, Haryana unit president of the Akhil Bharatiya Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (ABJASS), called for a political consensus.
Violence broke out in Haryana on February 2016 over demands for a separate jat quota or including the community in the other backward class category. Soon after the violence subsided, the state government enacted a law to provide 10% reservation in government jobs and educational institutions to Jats and the five other castes.
The community constitutes a quarter of the state’s population.
The quota law hit a legal hurdle in September 2017 when the Punjab and Haryana high court ordered this law be kept in abeyance till the Haryana Backward Classes Commission (HBCC), determines the extent and quantum of reservation in jobs and educational institutions.
The commission was asked to submit its report by March 31, 2018. However, it could not do so due to status quo being ordered by the Supreme Court.
