Rajasthan HC put stay on 5% Gujjar Reservation

The Rajasthan high court has stayed the state government’s decision to provide 5% reservation to Gurjars and three other communities,besides 14% reservation to the Economically Backward Classes (EBCs) as it breached the 50% limit set on quota. A division bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Bhalla and Justice M N Bhandari, on a petition filed by students of Rajasthan University, has ordered a stay on the implementation of the act. The division bench in the order observed, “we have examined the letter in the light of the order of Supreme Court in the light of Indra Sawhney judgement and find that the reservation granted by the government to Gurjar community and EBCs is not in consonance to the settled legal provisions and hence the excess reservation is stayed.” With this, the state government will not be able to provide reservation to Gurjars, Most Backward Communities and EBCs in the recently announced government jobs.
Rajasthan government, through an act had empowered Gurjars and three other communities with 5% reservation besides offering 14% reservation to EBCs. This reservation was over and above 49% reservation shared by OBC (21%), ST (12%) and SC (16%) in the state. Legal expert Abhinav Sharma said that the act has been inviting litigation the moment it was passed. “For effective implementation, the act should be made a part of IX Schedule of the Constitution so that any legal hurdle can be avoided. However, in that case also the Supreme Court, in a ruling, has said that articles in Schedule IX too can be legally reviewed,” he said.