Jharkhand Assembly Passes Bill To Provide 77% Reservation In Govt Services

The Jharkhand assembly today passed a bill increasing the reservation in the vacant govt posts & services to 77%.

The bill proposes a 12% quota for Scheduled Caste community, a 27% quota for Other Backward Communities; 28% for Scheduled Tribes, and 10% for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).

The  Supreme Court on November 7 said that the 50% ceiling limit for reservation is not an inflexible rule and that breaching this limit does not violate the basic structure of the constitution of India.

The Bill passed by the Jharkhand state assembly refers to the Apex Court's ruling in the case of Indra Sawhney 1992 (without naming it explicitly in the bill).

In this case, it was observed that the reservation should not exceed 50% "barring certain extraordinary situations".

Justifying the increase in the reservation quota for certain communities, the Bill further says that the SC, ST, and Backward classes communities are not getting the benefit of reservation in proportion to their population in the state.

Presently, the reserved quota is 60% and now the bill proposes to increase it to 77%.

The proposed increase in quota:

SC - From 10 to 12%

ST - From 26 to 28%

Extremely Backward classes - From 8 to 15%

Backward classes - From 6 to 12% 

All appointments to the services and posts in an establishment which are to be filled by the direct recruitment shall be regulated in the following manner :

From open category - 23%

From reserved category - 77%