CHANDIGARH: Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the reservation of Jats and five other communities provided by the Haryana government under the newly made Backward Classes category. The interim order was passed while hearing a petition challenging the constitutional validity of The Haryana Backward Classes Act 2016 by a bench headed by Justice S S Saron.
Murari Lal Gupta of Bhiwani challenged the Act, seeking a direction to quash block 'C', which provides reservation to the Jat community. Counsel for the petitioner said that providing reservation on the basis of the Gupta commission report tantamounts to the revision of a judicial order, which the legislature cannot do. He said only the judiciary can revise the findings on an issue already decided in a judicial order.
Also submitted in the petition was that even in 2014, the state government had introduced such a bill to include Jats in the list of other backward classes for reservation in jobs and educational institutes. The new act provides reservation for Jats and five other communities under the backward class (C) category. The five other communities - including Jat Sikhs, Muslim Jats, Bishnois, Rors and Tyagis - would be entitled to 10 per cent reservation in government services and admission in educational institutions.
A petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Act initially came up for hearing before a bench headed by Justice Mahesh Grover of the High Court. But taking up the matter, the bench observed that the issues raised by the petitioner were required to be decided by the PIL bench.
