The J&K Commission for Backward Classes, JKCBC, is going to recommend a 3% reservation for Pahari-speaking people and the descision is not doing well with other ‘weaker’ sections.
It is alleged that there no provision of granting reservation on the basis of language or region and hence impossible. According to RK Kalsotra, Chairman, Confederation of SCc STc and OBCs, by doing so, the PDP-BJP government is trying to deprive the genuine weaker sections of their constitutional rights.
Some days ago, the JKCBC had recommended quota for the Pahari-speaking people despite the weaker sections, including SCs, STs and OBCs, being against reservation on the basis of language.
“J&K is the only state in the country where successive ruling elites have brazenly misused the Reservation Act to provide quota to the undeserving people at the cost of the deserving weaker sections,” Kalsotra said and pointed out that giving reservation on the basis of backward area was already in violation of the Constitution.
Even tribal scholar Javid Rahi, who has worked on reservation for years together, has questioned the mandate of the JKCBC to recommend reservation for a section of society on the basis of language.
“The job of this commission is inclusion or exclusion of castes as the OBCs. I am surprised how the JKCBC can recommend reservation for the Pahari-speaking people,” Rahi said, adding, “As of now, the commission is incomplete because of the total seven, only three members, including the Chairman, have been appointed.”
“The biggest question is who are Paharis? Even inhabitants of Jammu district are claiming that they are Paharis. How can the government deny them reservation?” Rahi asked.
“Appointing a retired bureaucrat as the Chairman of the commission is in violation of the apex court judgment on the Mandal Commission report in 1992, in which it was directed that only serving or retired judges would head the Backward Classes Commission in the states. The PDP-BJP government is hatching a conspiracy to deprive the OBCs of their basic rights,” said KD Verma, an OBC leader.
About the Bill
The Bill proposing five per cent reservation to the Pahari-speaking people was passed by the state legislature in August 2014. It was then sent to the Governor
On January 5, 2015, the Governor had returned the Bill for reconsideration of the legislature under proviso to Section 78 of the J&K constitution
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The Bill was forwarded by the Assembly to the Law Department and then to the Social Welfare Department, which clarified the queries and then sent it further to the JKCBC for its observation
The JKCBC recommended 3 pc reservation for the Paharis
Follow up Report – Paharis welcome nod for 3% reservation (10/02/2018)
Pahari leaders have hailed the state Cabinet’s approval for extending 3 per cent reservation for the community members of the state.In a meeting on Thursday, the Cabinet approved the J&K Reservation (amendment) Bill 18 of 2014 that extends 3 per cent reservation to the Pahari community.The leaders while hailing the Cabinet decision said it was a matter of pleasure and congratulated all Paharis, other than SC/ST/OBC (who already enjoy reservation), of the Peer Panjal region and those living in a few border pockets of the Valley.Meanwhile, PDP vice-president Mohd Sartaj Madni in Jammu also hailed the move of the government. He said the decision comes as a relief for Paharis who had been striving for tribal status.
