Rajasthan HC quashes SBC reservation granted to Gujjars

Yash Goyal

Our Correspondent

Jaipur, December 9

A Division Bench of Rajasthan High Court on Friday struck down the Special Backward Classes (SBC) reservation in the state given to Gujjars and five other communities.

The Division Bench, comprising of Justice M N Bhandari and Justice J K Ranka, pronounced the judgement on a petition by Capt Gurvinder Singh.

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The decision to provide reservation was taken on November 28, 2012.

A separate five per cent quota to the SBCs without touching the 21 per cent reservation available to Other Backward Classes took the overall reservation in jobs and education to 54 per cent in the state.

It had left the Gujjars dissatisfied as it was susceptible to judicial rejection since its inception. 

An attempt was made in 2008 to grant five per cent reservation to SBCs which was struck down by the High Court in 2009.

In 2010, the High Court had asked the OBC Commission of the state to revisit the decision.

After deliberations, the OBC Commission granted the Gurjars and 5 other communities five per cent extra reservation. 

The state has witnessed violence several times since 2007 when during the Gujjar agitation, the community members blocked national highways and railway tracks and were fired upon by the police.

The community, presently enjoying OBC status, had initially demanded its inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes and was later persuaded to accept the creation of a new reserved category for it.

The court held that the special reservation beyond the permissible limit of 50 per cent cannot be made and the report of the OBC Commission of the state was a calculated one to favour these communities.