Spell out basis on which quota given to Jats, 5 other castes: HC

Chandigarh, September 30

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The Punjab and Haryana High Court today asked Haryana to elaborate upon the material on the basis of which reservation was granted to Jat and five other communities. The Division Bench headed by Justice SS Saron also fixed October 7 as the next date of hearing in the case. The developments took place on Haryana’s plea for vacation of ex-parte interim orders. Counsel for the state stated that that the petitioner had approached the High Court without exhausting the available channel for redress of his grievances.

Elaborating, he stated that it was mandatory for the petitioner to move the Haryana Backward Classes Commission, the statutory authority to entertain and examine complaints/issues raised by the present petitioner in his writ petition. As such, the present writ petition was not maintainable. It was premature at the current stage. Therefore, the impugned stay orders were liable to be set aside on this score alone.

Counsel for the state added that the process for carrying out recruitment to various post had already been initiated by the Haryana Staff Selection Commission as well as the Haryana Public Service Commission. Besides , the admissions to undergraduate and postgraduate courses for session 2016-17 were also open; and candidates had applied under the backward classes’ category. The admission process for professional courses such as the MBBS, too, had started for 2016-17 session.

In his petition, Gupta had earlier sought directions for quashing the block ‘C’ of the Act providing reservation to the Jat community under a newly carved BC (C) category. The petitioner submitted that reservation to the Jat community was provided under the new Act on the basis of Justice KC Gupta commission report, which has been quashed by the Supreme Court. — TNS