No carte blanche by Punjab and Haryana High Court to breach 50% ceiling

THE TRIBUNE, 15 September, 2017

http://epaper.tribuneindia.com/1357189/The-Tribune/TT_15_September_2017#page/8/2

Jat quota

Refer to ‘Resolve without reserve’ by Yogendra Yadav (September 11), while dwelling upon the Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment regarding Jat reservation, the writer has erred when he says that the court allowed the government to go beyond the 50 per cent ceiling on all reservations. A scrutiny of the judgment shows that in the matter of Tamil Nadu reservation, the Supreme Court, in 2012, in the case of SV Joshi v. State of Karnataka, had laid down that ‘if a State wanted to exceed 50% reservation, it was required to base its decision on quantifiable data, which exercise had not been done in the said case. Accordingly, the State of Tamil Nadu was directed to place the quantifiable data before the Tamil Nadu State Backward Commission and, on the basis of such quantifiable data amongst other things, the commission would decide the quantum of reservation’. The writ petition was disposed of with a direction to the state government to revisit and take appropriate decision in the light of what was stated. In the matter of Jat reservation, the Punjab  and High Court has followed the said judgment of the Supreme Court and directed the Haryana commission to carry  out an exercise to determine the extent of reservation, if any, to which the castes mentioned in Schedule III of the 2016  Haryana Act would be entitled to and also the quantum of reservation to be provided for them. The court further held that the question regarding the 50 per cent limit being breached by providing reservation in pursuance of the impugned legislation, and whether it is so justified, can also be raised and considered by the commission.

Rajender Goyal, BAHADURGARH