Haryana assembly passes Jat reservation bill

The Haryana assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed a bill to provide reservation to Jats and five other communities in government jobs and educational institutions, ahead of the April 3 deadline set by the community which had launched a violent agitation last month.

The Congress members did not attend the session as they were demanding revoking the suspension of their three MLAs.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday introduced two bills -- Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admission in Educational Institutions) Bill, 2016 and Haryana Backward Classes Commission Bill, 2016 -- in the ongoing budget session which were passed unanimously by the house.

Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admission in Educational Institutions) Bill, 2016, proposed to give statutory status to Backward Classes Block 'A', Backward Classes Block 'B' and Backward Classes Block 'C' by enacting the Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admission in Educational Institutions) Act, 2016.

The Haryana Backward Classes Commission Bill, 2016 proposed to set up a permanent mechanism and give a statutory status to the Haryana Backward Classes Commission after a gap of 24 years.

Jats had threatened to relaunch their agitation on March 18 but put it off till April 3 after the BJP government assured them that it would bring the bill in the ongoing budget session.

Jats had last month launched a stir demanding reservation in BC category. The agitation, which had taken a violent turn, left 30 people dead and 320 persons injured and resulted in huge damage to property.

Jat leaders had said in case the reservation breaches the 50 per cent ceiling, then the government should include the proposed legislation in the ninth Schedule of the Constitution to protect it in case of judicial scrutiny. The Haryana government will request the central government to include this act in 9th Schedule read with Article 31B of the Constitution.

The bill proposed to give reservation to Jats and five other castes -- Jat Sikhs, Rors, Bishnois, Tyagis and Mulla Jat/Muslim Jat -- by constituting a new classification Block 'C' in the Backward Classes category.

The bill proposed to give 10 per cent reservation to Jats and five other castes in government and government aided educational institutions and Class III and IV government jobs.

The bill also proposed to give 6 per cent reservation to Jats and five other castes in BC 'C' category in class I and II jobs.

In case of BC 'A' and BC 'B' category, the bill provides for raising the reservation from 10 to 11 and 5 to 6 per cent respectively for Class I and II jobs.

For Economically Backward Persons, the reservation percentage was proposed to be hiked from 5 to 7 per cent for Class I and II jobs.

The bill states that notwithstanding anything contained in this act, the state government may provide horizontal reservation for such category or categories of persons within Backward Classes as it may deem necessary from time to time.

Jat leaders have been demanding reservation in the existing Backward Classes category. The BC quota is bifurcated into two -- BC 'A' and BC 'B' having 16 and 11 per cent, respectively.

Under BC 'A' and BC 'B' categories, 71 and 6 castes are currently availing reservation benefits, respectively.

The opposition Congress had favoured the quota for Jats. The party which has 15 MLAs, boycotted the assembly session as it was demanding revocation of suspension of its three legislators who were suspended for six months after they tore the copies of governor's address.