SC groups flay Haryana government’s move to bifurcate 20% reserved seats
Organisations say such measure will only promote casteism
CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government’s move to enact a legislation to bifurcate 20% quota reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) in higher education institutions has come in for criticism from SC organisations in the state.
The cabinet had on January 31 approved a draft bill — Haryana Scheduled Castes (Reservation in Admission in Educational Institutions) Bill, 2020 — to allot half of the seats to a newly created category — ‘deprived Scheduled Castes’.
The move may also not withstand legal scrutiny in view of the July 2006 quashing of November 9, 1994 notification by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a matter pertaining to sub-classification of reservation for SCs by making two categories (Block A and B) for direct recruitment in government jobs.
The Haryana government under former chief minister Bha jan Lal had in November 1994 ordered that for purpose of reservation in services, the SCs will be classified into two categories.
The high court order was based on the Supreme Court’s decision in the EV Chinnaiah case.
President of Confederation of SC/ST & OBC Organization, Haryana, Karamvir, said the government claims it wanted to uplift the deprived sections of SCs, but this is not the only way out.
“In fact, such a measure would promote casteism. If the intentions of the government are right, then there are many welfare which need proper implementation to give benefit to the deprived sections. For instance, can the government explain how much the special component in the budget has been utilised. Also, there are concerns over the implementation of reservation given to SCs. If the quota of SCs was properly implemented, this situation would not have arisen,” he added.
Karamvir said the privatisation of safai karamcharis had affected the Balmiki community. “Regular posts of safai karamacharis have been abolished. Moreover, such situation could have been tackled if the education standards were improved,” he said.
‘POLITICAL STUNT WITH AN EYE ON VOTE BANK IN DELHI’
Haryana Pradesh Chamar Mahasabha president Shiv Lal Dahiya said state government cannot do such sub-classification legally.
“It is a political stunt with an eye on vote bank. This move is aimed at wooing the Balmiki voters in Delhi as they have roots in Haryana. We oppose this sub-classification,” Dahiya said.
Votaries of the move, however, say that giving a specific quota to the ‘deprived SCs’ in higher education institutions was a reasonable decision as their representation in group A, B and C jobs was only 4.7%, 4.14% and 6.27%, respectively, though they constituted about 11% of the total state population.
As for other category of SCs, who are also about 11% of the total population, the representation in group A, B and C services is 11%, 11.31% and 11.8%, respectively.
Also, the ‘deprived SCs’ were not so educationally qualified as the data from SECC 2011 indicates that only 2.13% population of the ‘deprived Scheduled Castes’ is graduate, 3.78% completed senior secondary education and 6.74% is Class-10 pass. About 33.63% of them are illiterate, the data showed.