Jat quota: Report on caste data likely to be delayed

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 21

As the collection of caste data of population is in progress, the Haryana Government is likely to move an application before the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking extension for submission of a report by the Haryana Backward Classes Commission (HBCC).

In its order pronounced on September 1, 2017, the High Court had directed the HBCC to determine the quota entitlement, if any, to Jats, Sikh Jats, Muslim Jats, Bishnois, Rors and Tyagis, and submit its report by March 31.

Sources said the state government had provided the HBCC with the data on representation of castes in government jobs, albeit with a little delay, but it is yet to furnish caste-wise data on population.

An indication of delay in submitting the report can be gauged from the fact that the departments of Rural Development and Urban Local Bodies started collecting caste-wise population data on March 12.

However, HBCC chairman Justice SN Aggarwal said the state government had assured the commission of providing the data by March 25. “Even if the HBCC receives the data by March 25, the preparation of report is going to take time,” he said.

“It is government’s prerogative to decide whether or not an extension is to be sought. As far as the HBCC is concerned, it is already on the job to prepare the report, which will be voluminous,” Justice Aggarwal said.

The report, he said, will deal with details on Constitutional provisions regarding reservation, debates in the Constituent Assembly on the matter, Supreme Court judgments on it and reports of the Mandal Commission, Gurnam Singh Commission and others on this issue.

A district-level officer of the Department of Rural Development said, “We have been provided with figures of the Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011. The government never released the caste data. We are preparing a report by collecting caste information about the head of the household.”