Bill to bifurcate SC quota for edu institutions this session

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 18

The state government has initiated steps to bring a Bill in the Assembly’s Budget session beginning Thursday that will implement categorisation of Scheduled Castes (SCs) for admission to educational institutions.

The Haryana Scheduled Castes (Reservation in Admission in Educational Institutions) Bill, 2020, aims to sub-categorise SCs for the purpose of reservation into two — one category including Chamars, Ramdasia etc who have fairly good representation in jobs and educational institutions and the other to include Balmikis, Dhanaks etc who have lagged behind in matters of quota benefits.

The move has rattled a section of SCs who are likely to be at the receiving end of this legislation, though those who stand to benefit from it have welcomed it.

“The categorisation of SCs is aimed at dividing society. If the government is serious about welfare of deprived sections of SCs, it should first fill the backlog of quota for them, implement SCs and STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act properly and release special component budget first,” said Karamvir Singh, president of the Confederation of SCs, STs and OBCs Organisations of Haryana.

Citing a five-judge judgment of the Supreme Court in EV Chinnaiah vs State Of Andhra Pradesh And Ors case, Karamvir Singh said the state legislature had no competence to make any law in regard to bifurcation of the Presidential List of Scheduled Castes prepared under Article 341(1) of the Constitution.

BJP Sirsa MP Sunita Duggal, herself from the “deprived” section of SCs, welcomed the move, saying it will provide justice to those who could not be uplifted despite decades of reservation. “Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had made this announcement in Kabir Jayanti Rally at Jind last June. People from all sections should welcome this move,” she said. She said those opposing the move must clarify that if OBCs can be categorised, then why not SCs.

Advocate General Baldev Raj Mahajan said legal provisions on the sub categorisation of scheduled castes had changed since 2005 when the Punjab and Haryana High Court stepped in and issued directions to the state government. Quoting the Jarnail Singh case, Mahajan said the Supreme Court had in September 2018 delinked the need for quantifiable data in giving reservation and introduced the ‘creamy layer’ concept for SC and STs just as in the case of OBCs.

Other Bills to be taken up include Haryana State Council of Physiotherapy Bill, 2020, Haryana Public Utilities (Prohibition on Change of Public Utilities) Bill, 2020, Punjab Land Preservation (Haryana Amendment) Bill, 2020 and Haryana Panchayti Raj (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020.

Sub-categorisation contentious issue

• The issue of sub-categorisation of SCs has been a contentious one in Haryana politics
• In 1994, the then CM Bhajan Lal decided to divide the SC population into two Category A and B, limiting 50% of all seats for the Chamars (block B) and offering the other half to non-Chamars (block A), on preferential basis
• The arrangement remained unchallenged until 2005 when the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the state government that the provision was illegal and needed to be removed in response to a writ petition by Gaje Singh, a member of the chamar community from the region
• The petitioner had cited the Supreme Court’s judgment in EV Chinnaiah vs State Of Andhra Pradesh And Ors case against the sub-classification of SCs and had demanded its removal

Budget likely on February 28

• The first Budget of the BJP-JJP government is likely to be presented on February 28 by CM Manohar Lal Khattar
• As per the tentative programme sent to the Vidhan Sabha by the state government, the session will begin with the Governor’s Address on February 20
• After a three-day break, the House will re-assemble on February 24 with discussion on Governor’s Address which will continue till February 26
• While February 27 will be non-official day, February 29 and March 1 will be holidays
• March 2 will see the discussion on Finance Minister’s reply and voting on Budget estimates
• The programme will, however, be finalised by the Assembly’s Business Advisory Committee