Srinagar: A petition has been filed in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court challenging the newly amended J&K Reservation Rules 2005 that give 70% reservation to Schedule Tribe (ST), Schedule Caste (SC), and other categories and only 30% reservation to Open Merit candidates in the recruitment, promotions, and admissions.
The petitioners, advocates Zahoor Ahmad Bhat, Ishrat Nabi, and Ishfaq Ahmad Dar, have sought immediate revocation of the amended rules and recruitment and admission notices issued thereof.
The petition requested the court to issue a notice for the formation of an expert commission headed by a retired high court judge and members of each community and category to recommend the reservation based on population percentage in the Union Territory of J&K. It also sought directions to rationalise the new reservation as per the Supreme Court guidelines, which have capped the reservation at 50 per cent.
The plea is listed before the Division Bench of the High Court comprising justices Atul Sreedharan and Rajesh Sekhri on Friday.
Amended Reservation Rules
According to the amended Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act of 2005, the UT government provides more than 60% reserved seats to 30% of the population, which are divided into several categories. It also included Pahari-speaking persons and 15 other castes on the list, further reducing the possibilities of open-category candidates.
“The government has decreased the percentage of reservation in Jammu and Kashmir Government Recruitment posts from open merit 57% to 33%, Resident of Backward Area (RBA) from 20% to 10% by increasing the reservation in scheduled tribe (ST) from 10% to 20%, Social Caste from 02% to 08%, and ALC from 03% to 04%, PHC from 03% to 04%, and added new categories: Children of Defence personnel 03%, Children of police personnel 1%, candidates possessing performance in sports 02%, which is ultra vires to the constitution,” the petition reads.
Debate Over Reservation Policy
The issue of reservation also echoed in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly, which held its first maiden session after the much-awaited elections of the new government. At least seven legislators from different political parties vehemently demanded the revision of the new reservation policy that was implemented in the UT.
The legislators, including the ones from the ruling National Conference, said that the reservation policy should be revised. They are Arjun Singh Raju and Salman Sagar of the ruling party NC, MY Tarigami of CPI(M), Sheikh Khursheed (an independent MLA from Langate), and Waheed Para and Rafik Naik of the opposition PDP. None of the other legislators opposed these seven legislators on the issue.
Read More
